Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 update rolling out for Google Pixel devices

Is your Google Pixel phone currently running Android 14 QPR2 Beta? You’re in luck, as Google’s latest Beta 3 is now available for all eligible devices, bringing a few new features, bug fixes, and stability improvements.

Starting with the new features, the Bluetooth Quick Setting tile finally has a pop-up dialog, which will prevent the annoying situation where you completely disable Bluetooth connectivity when you tap on the tile with the intention of simply checking or changing some setting. Also, the update prepares the system to get a ‘make all apps dark’ function that will invert the colors in the UI of apps that do not offer a native dark mode.

Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 integrates a new ‘android.permission.MEDIA_ROUTING_CONTROL’ permission related to ‘change media output’ to choose which connected device can play multimedia from other apps. The Pixel Launcher also got a new animation that hints at the future implementation of a ‘taskbar pinning’ feature from which you can switch between two types of taskbar formats.

The update also moved the ‘convert to eSIM’ option to the SIM settings, but it is still in development and is not functional, so it does not trigger anything when you activate it. That said, you can head here to check out everything new that the update introduced.

Before checking out the official release notes, it’s worth pointing out that for some odd reason, the update notice on out Pixel 7a claimed it was an Android 14 QPR1 Beta 3 update, instead of QPR2 Beta 3. Nevertheless, while confusing, the update once installed, turned out to be the latest beta itself. Check out the screenshot below for reference.

Now, moving on to talking about the bug fixes, the Android dev team listed several under two main sections:

Developer- and user-reported issues

• Fixed an issue where SPIR-V sequences of OpShiftLeft followed by OpShiftRight didn’t produce the expected results for ARM Vulkan driver versions 43.0 and 44.0.
• Fixed issues that sometimes caused Bluetooth connections to be interrupted for some devices.
• Fixed issues that sometimes caused a device to crash or become unresponsive after restarting.
• Fixed issues that in some rare cases caused devices to reboot while in idle mode.
• Fixed an issue that caused live wallpapers to stop animating.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Google Assistant from activating in some cases.

Other resolved issues

• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused multi-finger gestures to stop working.
• Fixed an issue where the device’s screen didn’t initially turn on when the screen was double-tapped or the power button was pressed.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused higher than usual CPU usage during video playback.
• Fixed a system issue that sometimes caused poor audio quality or higher power consumption when making calls.
• Fixed an issue where the keyboard was always shown even if the “Swipe up to start search” setting was disabled in system settings.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes when a user unlocked the device using their fingerprint, there was no haptic feedback.
• Fixed an issue for Pixel Fold devices where sometimes after a user unlocked the device while it was folded, the inner display didn’t turn on after unfolding the device.
• Fixed various issues that were impacting system stability, performance, connectivity, camera, and accessibility.

There’s a small ‘Other known issues‘ section where there is only one item:

• The Assistant At a Glance widget sometimes displays weather information for the wrong location.

The Pixel devices compatible with Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 are as follows:

• Pixel 5a
• Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
• Pixel 6a
• Pixel 7 and 7 Pro
• Pixel 7a
• Pixel Fold
• Pixel Tablet
• Pixel 8 and 8 Pro

If you are already using a previou build of the Android 14 QPR2 beta, you should receive the OTA update on your device soon, if you’ve not already. But if you want to enroll in the beta program, you can check out our guide on how to do so.

Sources: 1, 2