Just like iOS, Android is now mature and refined enough that it doesn’t need a full-on renovation every 12 months, so we’ve gotten used to there not being too many huge changes each year. That said, there are improvements and upgrades in Android 13 that are worth talking about. Here are the ones you should check out once it arrives on your handset. In Android 13, this protocol has been extended to notifications. Instead of an app simply sending you alerts—forcing you to either accept them or dig into the Settings page to turn them off—you’ll see a notification permission request. The moment this request shows up is up to the developer, but it’ll typically be quite early on. As before, you can change app settings (including notifications and other permissions), by going to Settings. Tap on Apps and See all apps, then choose an app and pick Permissions. Essentially, you can now choose different vibration levels for calls, alarms, and other notifications, as well as touch feedback. You can also get incoming calls to vibrate your phone first, before gradually adding an audible sound. To find all of these new options from Settings in Android, tap on Sound and vibration, then Vibration and haptics. Each option has a slider, so you can carefully control the vibrations in quite a precise way. Android has been reading QR codes for a long time, but Android 13 makes its QR code reader a little easier to access. Open Quick Settings with a two-finger swipe from the top of the screen, then tap the pen icon (lower right) to make changes, and you’ll see there’s a Scan QR code option that you can drag into the Quick Settings panel. Bonus tip: Another Android 13 tile that you can add to the Quick Settings panel, in the same way, is One-handed mode. It slides down certain elements of the user interface so they’re easier to reach with your thumb. Two of the visual changes that you’ll notice are that the play button is bigger and has been moved to the right, and the progress bar now has a squiggly effect on it when a podcast, video, audiobook, or song is on. The redesigned interface also lets you select specific albums from your phone’s gallery and any connected cloud storage. As before, the background of the media player widget is covered by whatever artwork is available from the app in question (album art, for example). Up in the top right corner of the widget, you can see where the media is playing, whether that’s your phone’s speaker or a connected device, such as a Chromecast. With media playing, head to Settings and choose Sound and vibration, then tap the Play… link underneath Media volume. The link should include the name of the app that’s doing the playing. Not only does the redesigned pop-up dialog make it easy to switch between outputs—from wireless headphones to connected car stereos—it also lets you adjust the relative volume levels too.
