Android 17 Beta 2 just dropped for Pixel testers

This week may be Samsung’s time in the spotlight, with the launch of the Galaxy S26 series, but Google is not about to let us forget about its own Pixel phones. Not even two weeks from the initial release of Android 17 Beta 1, Google’s already following that up with Android 17 Beta 2.

Just like before, Android 17 is supported on the Pixel 6 and newer handsets, as well as Google’s foldables and the Pixel Tablet.

What’s new in Beta 2 that Google already has ready to show off? Well, for starters there’s the EyeDropper API, a system for letting apps do color-matching on screen content without problematic privacy concerns. We first caught wind of EyeDroppper last fall, but we weren’t able to get it working at the time.

We’ve also got a new “Bubbles” windowing mode that looks perfect for larger Android screens, like we increasingly work with on foldables:

Google confirms the arrival of the new Android 17 Contacts Picker that we’ve been expecting after taking an early peek back in November.

There’s a lot more under-the-hood stuff that Google mentions, like improvements to touchpad support and better time zone handling, but we’re going to want to get this new build installed on our own Pixel phones and start digging through it ourselves in the hopes of spotting some more impactful updates.

If you’d like to join in on that fun, you can install Android 17 Beta 2 on your own Pixel phone, as well. Motorola users also just got access to Android 17, but it may still be a while before Beta 2’s ready for them.