Android 13 for Android TV releases with performance improvements and additional features

XDA

By Adam Conway

Published Dec 2, 2022

Android 13 for Android TV is now here, though you can only use it on ADT-3 and the Android Emulator for the moment.

Android is the largest operating system in the world. It powers over 2.5 billion smartphones worldwide, and every year it receives a new upgrade with improvements over the previous version. It powers TV devices such as Chromecasts too, and it can run apps just like its smartphone counterpart can. The most recent version of Android TV was Android 12, but now Google is rolling out Android 13 for Android TV.

If you're a developer who wants to try it out, Android 13 for Android TV is now available for both ADT-3 and the Android TV emulator, and it primarily focuses on performance and accessibility. Developers will be able to choose between the Android TV and the Google TV interface when testing out their applications.

Android 13 brings new APIs for TV owners which will help developers deliver high-quality experiences to users across different device types. These changes include:

Improvements to the AudioManager API allow developers to anticipate audio attribute support for the active audio device and select the optimal format without starting playback.
Users can now change the default resolution and refresh rate on supported HDMI source devices for a more reliable playback experience.
HDMI state changes are now surfaced to the MediaSession lifecycle, allowing TV dongles and other HDMI source devices to save power and pause content in reaction to HDMI state changes.

Android 13 brings new features to make interacting with TV more adaptable and accessible for people who may need additional help in navigating their TVs, such as:

The InputDevice API now supports different keyboard layouts. Game developers can also reference keys by their physical location to support different layouts of physical keyboards.
A newly created audio descriptions API in AccessibilityManager allows your app to query the new system-wide audio description preference setting, helping developers provide audio descriptions in line with a user’s preference automatically.

Other features include user controls for refresh rate and resolution preferences, power management improvements, and better HDMI handling. It's unclear when this update will roll out to other devices, and given that Google's Chromecast with Google TV only recently updated to Android 12, it might be a while before it gets the update to Android 13.