Android 13 - Customizable Apps & Security Controls - Android (2023)

Your phone, tablet and more—all on your terms.

An image of a phone displaying the new Android 13 UI.

Android13
Highlights

  • Personal
  • Private
  • Beyond the phone

Android 13

Personal

Like it was made for you. And only you.

There are more ways than ever to make your Android look and feel like yours. Building on Material You, now you can customize your apps by color, theme and language. Even your media player will match your personal music taste.

(Video) 23 Android 13 Settings You NEED To Turn Off Now

Themed app icons

Your phone. Your style.

Customize your phone to your personal style. With expanded themed app icons, you can set more apps -not just Google apps - to match your phone’s wallpaper tint and colors.1

Your music has never looked so good.

Android 13 comes with a new media player that puts album artwork on full display and features a dancing playback bar.2

A music widget is highlighted, showing a Carrie Underwood song playing. The media playback bar wiggles up and down as the song progresses on the Android 13 device screen.

Android 13 comes with a new media player that puts album artwork on full display and features a dancing playback bar.2

Per-app language preferences

Always the right language.

Assign different language settings to individual apps, so you can move fluidly between languages on your device, just like in real life.3

Assign different language settings to individual apps, so you can move fluidly between languages on your device, just like in real life.3

Private

Security that keeps your data protected all day.

From the moment you turn on your device, Android works to keep your data safe and secure. With Android 13, you have more control over what information apps can and can’t access—including specific photos, videos and clipboard history.

What you say goes.

Helps keep your content private. Share only the photos and videos you choose with certain apps; not your full library.4

(Video) 16 Android 13 tips and tricks

User taps on Add photo in the My profile screen. Photo picker expands. “This app will have access to only the photos you select.” is at the top of the screen. The user chooses an image to share with the app.

Helps keep your content private. Share only the photos and videos you choose with certain apps; not your full library.4

Notification permissions

Stop the dings, rings and pings.

You're in control of which apps can send you notifications—helping you limit distractions.5

You're in control of which apps can send you notifications—helping you limit distractions.5

Proactive protection.

Android 13 has safeguards built in to help protect your personal data. To protect the information on your clipboard, you’ll get an alert when an app accesses it and your clipboard history will be cleared after a period of time to prevent unwanted access.

A user taps and copies some text. It sits in the clipboard while a clock ticks indicating the passage of time. The text then disappears as the history is erased.

Android 13 has safeguards built in to help protect your personal data. To protect the information on your clipboard, you’ll get an alert when an app accesses it and your clipboard history will be cleared after a period of time to prevent unwanted access.

See how Android helps keep you safe.

Learn more about safety

(Video) Migrate your apps to Android 13

Beyond the phone.

Devices that work better together.

Android 13 goes beyond the phone—bringing all of the devices in your life together seamlessly—with features that enhance your messaging, audio and multitasking experiences.

Android 13 phone with Messages open, A text appears asking “Hi Katherine, how’s it going?” Katherine responds “Good! Just got back from the grocery store”. Text bubble expands and transfers to a Chromebook screen. User responds to the text from the Chromebook saying “Oh nice! Making anything tasty tonight?”

Messaging app streaming

Chat everywhere.

Send and receive messages even when your phone’s out of reach by streaming your messaging apps directly to your Chromebook.6

Smooth handoffs.

Get things done on the device that makes the most sense by simply copying content—like a URL, text or picture—from your phone and pasting it to your tablet. Or you can start on your tablet and paste to your phone. Coming soon to Android 13 devices.7

Android 13 phone screen with Nest Audio website. User hard presses on image of Nest Audio and taps “Copy.” Image animates to Nearby Share icon. Nearby Share opens with “Looking for your devices” pulsing, identifying Liza’s Tablet. User taps Liza’s Tablet.Tablet animates in next to the phone. Tablet screen shows “Birthday Gift Ideas.” Nearby Share icon animates in, user taps “Paste” to transfer the copied Nest Audio image from the phone screen to the tablet screen.

Get things done on the device that makes the most sense by simply copying content—like a URL, text or picture—from your phone and pasting it to your tablet. Or you can start on your tablet and paste to your phone. Coming soon to Android 13 devices.7

Enhanced audio

Enjoy enhanced audio.

Spatial Audio lets you enjoy immersive sound. On head tracking enabled headphones, Spatial Audio shifts the source of the sound based on how you turn your head, making you feel like you’re in the middle of the sports game, movie or concert right from the comfort of your Android phone or tablet. Plus, Android 13 adopts Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio which improves audio quality and allows you to broadcast media to multiple people at once.8

Sound ripples surround the sides of a person’s head while it rotates.

(Video) Stop Your Android From SPYING On You!

Spatial Audio lets you enjoy immersive sound. On head tracking enabled headphones, Spatial Audio shifts the source of the sound based on how you turn your head, making you feel like you’re in the middle of the sports game, movie or concert right from the comfort of your Android phone or tablet. Plus, Android 13 adopts Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio which improves audio quality and allows you to broadcast media to multiple people at once.8

Composing an email on an Android tablet with Gmail open. User opens full app library from the taskbar and drags Photos onto the screen in split screen mode with Gmail. With the screen split, the user hard presses on an image from the Photos app open on the right side of the screen and drags it into the email on the left side of the screen.

Multitasking on tablets

Bigger and better productivity.

The updated taskbar on tablets helps you do two tasks at once. You can now drag and drop any second app from your app library into a split-screen view directly from your taskbar. And for times that you’re writing or drawing with a stylus, your tablet will register your palm and stylus as separate touches, reducing the number of accidental marks that come simply from comfortably resting your hand on the screen.

Discover how Android connects your devices.

Sync your Android phone with your TV, watch or car for a unified experience. Move from one device to another seamlessly and make everything work better together. Securely and swiftly transfer large files to Android phones, tablets and Chromebooks, even when offline.

Step into a story

A smartphone wirelessly connects to earbuds. A tablet wirelessly plays Spotify through a Nest Hub. A smartwatch wirelessly takes a photo on a phone.

Sync your Android phone with your TV, watch or car for a unified experience. Move from one device to another seamlessly and make everything work better together. Securely and swiftly transfer large files to Android phones, tablets and Chromebooks, even when offline.

Find a device

Cutting-edge phones await.

Check out the latest and greatest Android devices.

Find your next device

(Video) Nothing Phone (1) - Nothing OS 1.5 and Android 13 Hands-On

FAQs

How do I customize my Android 13? ›

How to customize Material You on Android 13. Android 13 has many new Material You features, including color options and dynamic-themed icons. From the Wallpaper & Style menu, tap the Wallpaper Colors button. You have access to 16 color options, but you need to swipe across to reveal all of them.

What are the new permissions in Android 13? ›

Android 13 changes to notification permissions. Android 13 introduces big changes to how users manage apps that send them notifications. For newly-installed apps, notifications will be off by default, meaning apps have to ask for permission before they are able to send push notifications.

What is special about Android 13? ›

From the moment you turn on your device, Android works to keep your data safe and secure. With Android 13, you have more control over what information apps can and can't access—including specific photos, videos and clipboard history.

How do I completely customize my Android? ›

Check out our list of helpful Android tips.
  1. of 09. Transfer Your Contacts, Apps, and Other Data. ...
  2. of 09. Replace Your Home Screen With a Launcher. ...
  3. of 09. Install a Better Keyboard. ...
  4. of 09. Add Widgets to Your Home Screens. ...
  5. of 09. Download Wallpaper. ...
  6. of 09. Set Up Default Apps. ...
  7. of 09. Customize Your Lock Screen. ...
  8. of 09. Root Your Device.
Sep 21, 2021

Can you customize Android apps? ›

One of the most significant features of Android is the customization scope it offers. You can easily find tons of applications on the Google Play Store offering different customization opportunities.

What app permissions should I avoid? ›

Watch out for permissions like access to your location, camera, microphone, contacts, browsing history and photo library. These can be particularly invasive and risky if not explicitly required for an app to function.

Why Android apps need so many permissions? ›

Android app permissions can give apps control of your phone and access to your camera, microphone, private messages, conversations, photos, and more. App permission requests pop up the first time an app needs access to sensitive hardware or data on your phone or tablet and are usually privacy-related.

What is custom permission in Android? ›

This document describes how app developers can use the security features provided by Android to define their own permissions. By defining custom permissions, an app can share its resources and capabilities with other apps. For more information about permissions, see the permissions overview.

What is the purpose of Android Easter egg? ›

Once you find the Easter egg, you'll have a new home screen widget option called “Android S Easter Egg.” Adding it to your homescreen will reveal color swatches for the various system colors the phone is using based on your wallpaper, ala Material You, so they can be saved or shared.

What is Android cat Easter egg? ›

Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version. Tap Android version repeatedly until the Android N logo appears. The cat head emoji will appear underneath the N. The cat appears and disappears, and the phone also vibrates signaling you about the arrival of the cat.

What is Android r Easter egg What does it do? ›

The Easter egg is a hidden feature in the Android operating system, which can be accessed by performing some specific steps in the settings menu. Every Android device comes with this hidden feature. The process of unlocking this feature is mostly similar to the recent version of Android.

Is Android 13 a redneck? ›

Android 13 (人造人間13号) is a redneck. He is Dr. Gero's thirteenth android creation. He was initially designed to serve Dr. Gero's vendetta against Goku, who overthrew the Red Ribbon Army as a child. He is the main antagonist of the movie Super Android 13.

What is the difference between Android 12 and Android 13? ›

Android 13 features a slightly bigger navigation bar than Android 12. There's also a new method for entering a split-screen view and copy and pasting across devices.

Is Android 13 more secure? ›

Android 13 has safeguards built in to help protect your personal data. To protect the information on your clipboard, you'll get an alert when an app accesses it, and your clipboard history will be cleared after a period of time to prevent unwanted access.

How do I change the UI on my Android phone? ›

Press the Home button and then Tap Use by default for this action. Then Select which interface you would like to use from now on, in this case I Tapped Home.

Can you customize Android UI? ›

Ans: Here are the steps to create custom Android UI components: Step 1: Create an XML layout. Step 2: Based on your layout, derive the component class from the parent component. Step 3: Add logic for components, and use attributes to enable users to modify the component's behavior.

What is the most customizable launcher for Android? ›

Nova Launcher has become synonymous with the best Android launchers for quite some time. It's heavily customizable, letting you change almost everything from app icon style, icon size, app drawer, and much more. Add in support for icon and theme packs, and you open up a whole new world of customization possibilities.

How do I change app icons on Android 13? ›

Open the Settings menu on your Pixel phone. Scroll down and tap Wallpaper and style. Enable the Themed icons option. You can also change the Wallpaper colors used by the dynamic theming engine to tweak the look of the themed icons.

How do I install custom apps on Android? ›

Non-Samsung devices
  1. On your device, go to Settings.
  2. Tap Apps & notifications > Advanced.
  3. Tap Special app access.
  4. Tap Install unknown apps.
  5. Tap the browser from where you will download the APK, such as Chrome.
  6. If prompted, toggle Allow from this source on.
Dec 19, 2022

What apps should I disable on Android? ›

8 Types of Android Apps You Should Delete From Your Phone
  1. Pre-Installed Bloatware Apps. ...
  2. Old Utility Apps That Are Now Built-In. ...
  3. Outdated Productivity Apps. ...
  4. Performance Booster Apps. ...
  5. Duplicate Apps That Perform the Same Functions. ...
  6. Overly Engaging Social Media Apps. ...
  7. Old Games You No Longer Play. ...
  8. Apps You No Longer Use.
Jun 24, 2022

What apps should not be on my Android phone? ›

17 dangerous Android apps you should delete from your phones right now
  • 117. Document Manager.
  • 217. Coin track Loan - Online loan.
  • 317. Cool Caller Screen.
  • 417. PSD Auth Protector.
  • 517. RGB Emoji Keyboard.
  • 617. Camera Translator Pro.
  • 717. Fast PDF Scanner.
  • 817. Air Balloon Wallpaper.
Jul 5, 2022

What happens if you turn off app permissions? ›

It can use the permission until you're done with the app. Don't allow: The app cannot use the setting, even when you're using the app.

Can apps use your camera without you knowing? ›

Check Your Device Permissions

All sorts of apps can request permission to access the camera, microphone, and other features, such as location information, on your phone or computer. Using the steps below, it's easy to see which apps have requested permission and revoke permissions that you've granted in the past.

Should you allow apps to access your photos? ›

Sometimes an app may want access to more personal information because it is trying to gather data that could then be used for marketing. If you feel your privacy is being invaded, the best thing to do is deny access to your data or simply delete the app.

What is the difference between permission and user permission in Android? ›

<permission> is normally used when making a custom permission (e.g. when making an app that other apps can tie in to, limiting access is a must), and <uses-permission> is used when your app actually needs a permission it doesn't have normally. Save this answer.

What is the difference between permission set and custom permission? ›

Custom Permissions in Salesforce are used to give access to users for certain apps or processes that you have configured and which cannot be controlled by profile or permission set directly. A profile and a permission set control the users' access to many entities such as objects, fields, tabs, and Visualforce pages.

What are modifying all permission in profile? ›

The Modify all data permission gives agents administrative rights. But it is the only way to distinguish agent profiles from other types of profiles in Salesforce Service Cloud. This permission has to be active across the migration only. You can change permission sets once you have all the data in your Service Cloud.

What is difference between modify permission and full permission? ›

Full control: Allows users to read, write, change, and delete files and subfolders. In addition, users can change permissions settings for all files and subdirectories. Modify: Allows users to read and write of files and subfolders; also allows deletion of the folder.

How do I find hidden apps on Android? ›

Find Hidden Apps on Android using App Drawer.
  1. Visit your app drawer section.
  2. Tap on the three dots that are present at the upper-right of the device screen.
  3. Click on the home screen settings. It will navigate you to the Hide apps menu; tap on it.
  4. Here, you will see the hidden apps that are not showing in the app list.

What is Android secret code? ›

USSD codes, also colloquially known as "secret codes", are simply codes that are used to unlock hidden actions in your smartphone. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a user interface protocol that you can use to access hidden features in your smartphone.

What is the little hole on the bottom of my Android phone? ›

But it actually serves a very important purpose - particularly when you record a video using your smartphone. This small hole is not a button and neither is it part of the camera. It's actually a microphone - one of three on the body of the device.

What happens if you tap Android version? ›

Quickly and repeatedly tap 'Android Version' on the next screen. You should now see a clock, turn the hands until it hits 1 o'clock. Your screen will fill with colourful blobs of various sizes. Long press on any part of the display, and the blobs transform into emoji.

What is empty dish in Android? ›

Playing the "game" entails putting out food

Opening the quick-settings menu and selecting the edit button will reveal an "empty dish" icon. By placing this icon in the notifications bar, the user has the option to tap it and choose food — chicken, fish, bits and treats — to put out.

What is Android 13 Easter egg? ›

Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version. Tap on Android version until an analog clock appears. Turn the hands to 1:00 (which is also 13:00 for Android 13). Suddenly you'll see the clock turn into the Android 13 badge surrounded by circles in various sizes.

Why do I have 2 Android setup apps? ›

2. You might have a dual-SIM phone that has a separate setup app for each SIM card. 3. You might have a phone with multiple user profiles, and each user has their own setup app.

What does Android 9 pie do? ›

Android Pie supports IEEE 802.11mc, including Wi-Fi Round Trip Time for location positioning. The camera API now supports accessing multiple cameras at once. Apps may no longer perform background audio or video recording unless they run a foreground service.

Is Android 13 worth it? ›

So while Android 13 might lack a suite of new features on the level of Material You, it's nonetheless a solid update for the best Android phones. Permissions received some improvements, especially for notifications.

Is Android 13 stable now? ›

Following the stable release of Android 13 to AOSP, we continue to update the platform with fixes and improvements that are then rolled out to supported devices.

Is Android 13 a Samsung? ›

All of Samsung's current leading devices have received Android 13, but they certainly aren't the only ones. The company now provides up to four years of Android OS upgrades to select devices. This makes many existing devices eligible for the new update.

What are the advantages of Android 13 over Android 12? ›

Android 13 builds on the tablet optimizations introduced in Android 12 and the 12L feature drop—including optimizations for the system UI, better multitasking, and improved compatibility modes. The system now derives media controls from PlaybackState actions instead of MediaStyle notifications.

How much RAM does Android 13 need? ›

Android 13 raises minimum system requirement to 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage.

Is Android 14 out? ›

Taking on the reins off of Android 13, the very first preview of Android 14 was released in early February 2023, giving us a very early sneak peak at the upcoming features in the operating system.

Does Android get hacked more than Apple? ›

So what is more secure: Android or iOS? Studies show that mobile malware targets Android much more than iOS, so for this reason, and all the others stated in this article, iOS is more secure. While you can remove malware from Android and iPhone, it's better not to get it in the first place.

Does Android 13 drain battery? ›

Several Android users have reported that they have been facing battery drain issues after updating their devices to Android 13. They have said that their phone batteries are draining even faster than before.

How to theme icons in Android 13? ›

With the recent jump to Android 13, a huge list of third-party apps have added support for themed icons on the Pixel.
...
How to turn on themed icons on your Samsung Galaxy phone:
  1. Tap and hold on your home screen.
  2. When a menu appears, hit “Color palette.”
  3. Toggle on “Apply palette to app icons.”
Sep 23, 2022

How do I change the colors on my Android 13? ›

You can change the color scheme of some screens and apps on your Android device and phone.
...
Turn Dark theme on or off
  1. On your phone, open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Display.
  3. Turn Dark theme on or off.

How do I change the icon color on my Android 13? ›

follow these steps:
  1. Go to Settings on your Android device.
  2. Go to the Wallpaper and Style tab.
  3. Tap on the Icons option.
  4. Then, tap on the Custom icons button.
  5. Under the Custom icons tab, scroll down and turn on the toggle for the Match wallpaper colours option.
  6. Finally, hit the Apply button.
Dec 1, 2022

How do you change the theme color on Android 13? ›

Android system accent colors can be changed by going to Settings > Wallpaper & style > Basic colors and picking your favorite color. You can also go to Wallpaper colors to let Android pick the colors based on your wallpaper.

How can I change the color of my app icon in Android? ›

The color palette feature on android 12 makes it easy to change your app's colors. To do this, Long press on an empty space on your home screen > select “wallpaper and style” > tap on color palette > select the color of your choice and click on “set as a color palette”.

What is Google dynamic color? ›

Dynamic Color, which was added in Android 12, enables users to personalize their devices to align tonally with the color scheme of their personal wallpaper or through a selected color in the wallpaper picker.

What is Android s Easter egg widget? ›

Tap on the Android S Easter Egg widget called Paint Chips and find an open spot on your home screen to drag it to. You'll see numerous boxes appear on the screen with color code numbers inside, each one a different shade. These are the colors that are being pulled from your current wallpaper using dynamic theming.

How do I change the home button color on my Android? ›

Pictorial representation of the above settings are as follows :
  1. a). From home screen, swipe up to launch Apps.
  2. b). Tap Settings.
  3. c). Tap Display.
  4. d). Scroll up the screen.
  5. e). Tap Navigator bar.
  6. f). Tap More color to choose the color.
  7. g). Tap any color. Tap DONE.
Oct 29, 2022

What is the difference between theme and wallpaper Android? ›

Themes are not the same as wallpapers. Themes change colours, icons and menus, while wallpaper allows you to set the background image or picture on your screen.

Can you change Android text color? ›

To change the keyboard color on an Android phone, go to Settings > System > Languages & Input > On-screen keyboard > Gboard > Theme and pick a color.

Why did my phone change colors? ›

All devices running Android™ 9 and higher have a bedtime mode feature. When this feature is enabled your phone will change to black and white, as shown in the figure below. To turn off grayscale: Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.

Videos

1. 8 Android Settings You Need To Turn Off Now [2023]
(Payette Forward)
2. Android 13: EVERY new function and feature!
(9to5Google)
3. Android 13: Top 15 new features!
(9to5Google)
4. Android 13 - Everything you need to know
(Android Authority)
5. Android 14: Secret Features Uncovered! 🧐
(XDA)
6. How To Install Android 13 On Any SmartPhone ?
(Ksk Royal)

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