Android 17 Beta 4 has arrived: Here's what to expect

Android 17 is on its way, and testers have eagerly been trying out all of Google’s early Beta releases over the past few months. It’s been exactly three weeks since Android 17 Beta 3 hit our devices, and now Google’s following that up with Android 17 Beta 4.

Right now, Android 17 Beta 4 is available for all Pixel phones and tablets from the Pixel 6 on up. Existing testers will be seeing a notification let them know when their update is ready to install. And if you haven’t gotten started with testing for yourself just yet, all you need to do is follow the steps in our Android 17 Beta guide to sign up and participate.

This is Google’s final scheduled beta of the Android 17 development cycle, and delivers what the company calls “the near-final environment” we can expect.

Since Android 17 Beta 3 already marked us crossing the platform stability milestone, Google has locked down the API and we won’t be getting new features delivered that way. But Google still has progress to share, like Android 17 app memory limits. These are designed to make sure your device is making your all your apps get “the right amount of RAM” based on what’s available to the system.

One eagerly awaited change that has finally arrived in this release is the debut of the Android 17 Easter egg:

Just as promised, Beta 4 delivers the Post-Quantum Cryptography upgrades Google shared a few weeks back, hardening Android against future hackers.

We’re not finding a ton of obvious changes that are user-facing, but here’s one: A new look for when you’re fresh out of notifications.

Instead of the bland “No notifications” text we’ve had before, we’re now seeing a fun “You’re all caught up” message with a congratulatory trophy. Tapping the text brings up your notification history.

We’ve also spotted a bit of a reversion. Remember when Android 16 QPR3 stopped letting you save a photo from the Recents screen with a long press?

Perhaps Google thought better of that change (we certainly didn’t love it), because our “Save” button returns in Android 17 Beta 4.

Finally, Google has shared a list of what it calls the top fixes present in this release:

• Resolved an issue where webpage URLs were automatically included when sharing screenshots from the capture preview, causing unwanted links to be shared with image files. (Issue #444631269)
• An accessibility issue caused the device to become completely unresponsive and unusable. (Issue #484755628)
• Fixed an issue where the media control widget could disappear or fail to navigate between multiple active media sessions. (Issue #457008153, Issue #466760800, Issue #497131275, Issue #499041878)
• Fixed an issue where dream services failed to correctly process key events, trigger keyguard bouncer prompts, or execute service lifecycle callbacks. (Issue #485661973)
• Resolved an issue that prevented users from successfully downloading and applying cinematic or local weather wallpaper effects. (Issue #475924636)
• Resolved an issue where the device would freeze and spontaneously restart while typing in messaging applications. (Issue #478417840)
• Fixed a critical system instability issue that causes the device to hang and crash during normal usage. (Issue #427436873, Issue #428838049)
• Fixed an issue causing devices to experience significantly reduced charging speeds when approaching the 80% battery limit, resulting in long delays before the device reaches its target charge and enters bypass mode. (Issue #485148344, Issue #490178498)
• Fixed a rendering issue that caused multicolored horizontal lines to randomly obscure the device display. (Issue #478953060, Issue #478177624, Issue #483765859, Issue #487263076)
• Pulling down the notification drawer while a feedback report is in progress can cause a System UI crash and device freeze. (Issue #488920581)
• Critical system components including Pixel Launcher and navigation may crash or become unresponsive for several minutes after a device reboot. (Issue #317282987, Issue #316689583, Issue #316188779)
• Fixed an accessibility issue that prevents users from properly interacting with apps after minimizing and returning to a split-screen view. (Issue #490735259)
• Resolved an issue that prevented Bluetooth from being re-enabled after it was turned off via the system settings or quick settings panel. (Issue #498320401)
• Notifications marked with setSilent(true) may unexpectedly play alert sounds on Android 16 when multiple notifications are present in the shade. (Issue #467164528)
• Wi-Fi analyzer applications fail to detect any available Wi-Fi signals, preventing network scanning and signal monitoring. (Issue #488493098, Issue #488244938, Issue #491531212, Issue #490566133, Issue #488742605, Issue #488437847, Issue #489664292, Issue #492229996, Issue #492403933, Issue #492078596, Issue #493259320, Issue #490313462, Issue #494716049, Issue #495146669, Issue #490268954, Issue #496870370, Issue #497174811, Issue #496927303, Issue #497726865, Issue #498299558, Issue #496860223, Issue #498454519, Issue #499751486, Issue #491171326)