Goodbye notification spam: Android 13 will ask for permission to send them

The new preview version of Android 13, available from this Thursday, includes new features that little by little allow you to get to know the next version of Google's system better. A new feature unveiled is that applications will have to ask the user's permission to send notifications.

For years, iOS has had a similar function which is useful for users to make sure that only some applications will send notifications. Very practical function to prevent the start bar from being filled with spam notifications and “hiding” important ones.

“Apps targeting Android 13 will now need to request user notification permission before publishing notifications,” says Dave Burke, vice president of engineering for Android on Google's blog.

In other words, the user must allow the app to send them notifications and to do so they will have to press' allow 'in a pop-up window, just as access permissions are granted to items such as the camera or location.

Android 13 will also enable downgrading of runtime permissions previously granted to apps that are no longer needed.

Another feature of this version is the integrated support for Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) Audio and the new MIDI 2.0 standard to transmit lower bits with higher quality, resulting in less power consumption and longer battery life, while providing a more analog feel by the MID 2.0 that adds communication bidirectional.

Precisely because they are already available to developers, the tests they carry out allow us to know some news that have not been directly announced on the Android blog. This is the case of the search bar of Pixel's application launcher (Launcher) or the clipboard function, as pointed out by the 9to5Google site.

The clipboard will have an overlay similar to what is already shown on Pixel phones each time a screenshot is taken; the capture appears as a thumbnail in the bottom corner, with options to edit, delete or share.

The novelty means that the text copied to the clipboard will also be displayed as a thumbnail in the same corner, and they are similar options. For its part, the search bar in the Pixel app drawer will be relocated to the bottom.

Previously it was said that it will also help the search for a nearby device without location: to the present, applications that want to connect via wifi to nearby devices always receive the location data of the mobile or tablet. Android 13 offers a new permission that allows apps to search for devices in the vicinity and connect to them via Wi-Fi without giving away the user's location.

According to The Verge the first preview of Android 13 was released in February and showed a new theme option and a system-wide photo selector. And it doesn't recommend installing these previews yet, given that Android 13 probably won't be released publicly until after July, because there are so many bugs to be resolved.

Google expects to launch beta versions of Android 13 around April, which could be a better time to participate if you are interested, and it seems like a safe bet, there will be some important news from Android 13 from the Google I/O program just announced. In any case, you won't have to wait so long to test the novelties safely.

(With information from EP)

KEEP READING