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Since the first Developer Build of Android 13, Android Police's staff has thoroughly tested and reviewed Android 13. The Google Pixel 7 series, as well as Pixel 4 and later models, were the first to get the Android 13 treatment on August 15, 2022. Many of the best Android phones, however, have already received the update.

While Android 13 is still making its way to older smartphones, Google is already hard at work on Android 14. Yes, Google's current OS is a little short on features compared to its predecessor, this is probably for the best. Android 13 refines what made Android 12 great, with third-party support for Material You, per-app language personalization, and lots of other tweaks. Among the tweak and features, a few stand out from the crowd. Here are the top 8 new Android 13 features you'll want to try out today.

Android 13 is still rolling out to users. Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy owners should have the update. If you're still waiting, check out our Android 13 update guide. It's updated as we learn new information and gives you an idea of if and when your phone will get an update.

Opt-in permissions for notifications, media, and locations

When you install or update an app on Android 13, you'll see a notifications permissions pop-up This new opt-in method makes managing your Android notifications easier, as you can stop apps from sending unnecessary notifications from the start. It's also a great way to improve your privacy by preventing apps from accessing your personal data.

Android 13 requires opt-in permissions for the following tasks:

  • Notifications, although you can't enable or disable individual notification channels
  • Image files
  • Video files
  • Audio files

A new permission in Android 13 allows apps to search for nearby Wi-Fi devices without needing to access your location.

Android 13 has per-app language settings

The best feature of Android 13 for multilingual Android users is that the language settings are no longer device-wide. Apple introduced this feature years ago, but now Android users can access this helpful feature. This is a huge boon for those who use apps with wonky translations or prefer to use certain apps in a different language than the rest of their phone.

To change an app's language, head to the App Info page and tap the Language button. Developers must provide language files to enable this option, so don't be surprised if your favorite app doesn't show the option.

Dynamic Material You icons are available on third-party apps

This feature was initially exclusive to Google apps in Android 12, but third-party apps can now access the full suite of Material You tools. Third-party support means enabling Themed Icons won't turn your homescreen into a jarring mess of themes. However, dynamic app theming is the developer's responsibility, and adoption has been slow. While popular apps like Whatsapp and Spotify now include Material You support, it's likely many of your apps do not yet support this feature.

More Material You palettes = more chances to customize your phone

Alongside the expansion of themed icons comes an expanded range of 16 tasteful Material You palettes. These themes slot in nicely with the existing range, so you have a few more tasteful options. For a thorough breakdown of how these styles came to be, check out our exclusive coverage. Long press on your homescreen and tap Wallpaper & Style to browse the new colors.

Left: Color picker in Android 12. Right: Color picker in Android 13.

Copying texts and images is much simpler

Copying text or images in Android 13 creates a small pop-up window in the lower-left corner of your screen. Tap this to edit the text or image, and when you're done, you can share edited content directly from the tool, streamlining the entire process. It automatically clears after 60 minutes, so don't worry about copied content staying around forever.

As you can see above, you can crop, doodle on, and annotate images before sharing them.

Set image-sharing options per app with Android13's photo picker

Photo picker is another feature that first appeared on iOS, allowing users only to share the images they want with apps. When you share images through the new photo picker, the app can only access the photos you choose. You don't need to do anything different, but developers need to update their apps to enable this feature. So like multilingual support or themed icons, you may need to wait to see this feature in action.

Android 13 adds a seven-day privacy dashboard

Android 12 introduced a privacy dashboard, which shows you what your apps have accessed over the last 24 hours. Android 13 has improved this feature by expanding the privacy dashboard to show the past seven days and more information about how apps use your personal information. It's not the most exciting feature, but it's a big step toward improving privacy.

The media player gets a makeover

Continuing the theme of revamping features rather than introducing new ones, Android 13's media player has completely redesigned the output picker introduced by Android 10. Buttons for shuffle and repeat have been added, along with a squiggly playback bar. It also pulls its colors from the album's artwork. It's a great new look that probably caught your eye!

Now that know Android 13's best new features, take a moment to update your Settings

Android 13 might not be the most dramatic Android release, but it was the one we needed. You may have spotted the above changes already, but here are some significant changes in the Settings menu that we recommend looking at.