Today, seemingly out of the blue, Google has released a whole new wave of Android betas for all currently supported Pixels, including the latest Pixel 6. Google's expansion of the Android Beta Program, announced last year, will apparently continue beyond Android 12L and into feature drop updates, with the Pixel 4 series, 4a series, Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, and Pixel 6 series getting in on the action for the upcoming June update.

Google is up-front about this change, though it wasn't announced with a blog post, with a new Android QPR Beta page explaining the logic as being a test of the upcoming June Feature Drop update — QPR standing for Quarterly Platform Release, or the every-three-month Feature Drops. The normal Android Beta Program rules otherwise apply: Those that opt-in will get OTA beta updates based on this new release, with newer beta releases rolling out regularly. The schedule isn't clear yet, but it could be monthly.

Google hinted that something like this might happen when it announced expanding the Android Beta Program in a way that ended up encompassing Android 12L. It might feel different this time because we don't have a branded release to associate it with, but it actually makes sense as being continuous with that prior testing.

The update is currently rolling out without any fanfare from Google itself for anyone already in the Android Beta Program. OTA images for the update are available for manual download and installation, and builds appear to be available for the Pixel 4 series and later. However, as part of the Android Beta Program, you can simply opt-in for easy installation.

Some Pixel owners running Android 13 DP1 claim they're getting downgraded to this release in an OTA update as well, which would seem to be unintended behavior, but they probably forgot to opt-out of the Beta Program when Google announced things were changing last year. (You might want to do that now if you don't want to run into issues, and you may be forced to wipe if you do, though opting out and then manually sideloading the OTA you want seems to circumvent a wipe, in my experience.)

Curiously, the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are included on the fun today, even though they don't even have the March Feature Drop update yet. For those with the annoying Wi-Fi issue on the Pixel 6 series running the only available February patches, this could be a way to fix it in the short term, though migrating back from the Android Beta Program is a slightly complicated procedure if you don't want to wipe your phone.

The Pixel 3a series has notably been dropped in these betas, an indication that it probably won't get the next feature drop update in June — that makes sense, as its update promise is set to expire in May. On a Reddit post, Google confirms that Pixel 3a series phones currently in the Beta Program will "receive a final update to the official public March release SP2A.220305.012 instead." There, Google also confirms that the update includes all the changes in the March update.

So far, Google doesn't have much in the way of release notes for the QPR3 Beta 1, though it does note that they are ready for general use if you're feeling adventurous.

These new beta releases could serve as an indicator for future Feature Drop changes, potentially opening up an entirely new avenue to dive for unreleased and upcoming features. Anticipate plenty more coverage from us on the subject once we've had a chance to dig in.

Thanks: Everyone who sent this in