Google issued a new beta version for Pixel Phones this week, allowing users to openly test Android 12 QPR3, or the third Quarterly Platform Update for Android 12. The first two Android 12 QPRs were published as Feature Drops in December and March, respectively, with the latter also receiving a public test. However, Google has changed the way things function in a perplexing way, especially when Android 13's public testing begins. Complicating matters is the fact that the official, stable Pixel 6 March update has been delayed while its updates and much-needed repairs are accessible in the new beta at the same time.
As a result, many consumers jumped on the beta version, and those who didn't want it were pushed onto it by forgetting to opt-out of the programme before flashing Android 13 DP1, resulting in still more problems. And when it comes to the appropriate labels to explain all of these changes, even Google can't keep track of which phrases to use.
The present Android Beta Program feels like a hot mess in the midst of an uncertain future, and only greater messaging and structure from Google can repair it.
Complicated names, complicated history
To begin, there's the basic misunderstanding over the names used by the Android Beta Program — confusion that Google exacerbated by using the incorrect terminology itself (which I'll discuss further later). When it comes to these new betas for quarterly releases, my buddy Mishaal Rahman did an excellent job lately on Twitter of explaining out the key vocabulary. Pixel Feature Drops are based on QPRs, or Quarterly Platform Release upgrades, which occur (you got it) every three months. On top of that, the Feature Drops include improvements to Google's applications and Play Services, all branded and packed together for a simultaneous introduction.
When it comes to the Android Beta Program, there is some historical context to consider. Some of these Quarterly Platform Release upgrades got X.1 point updates and API modifications a long time ago. Google discontinued this practise with the release of Android 8.1. Rahman theorises (and I wholeheartedly agree) that OEMs delayed because they couldn't keep up with more regular upgrades. These point releases were also subjected to public beta testing, albeit this was before to the establishment of the Android Beta Program, and Google referred to all of their tests as Developer Previews (that change happened with Android 7 Nougat).
The Android Beta Program has recently only been utilised for major Android versions. While Android 12L appears to be fresh to the modern eye, it is, in some ways, a return to Google's beginnings. Although Android 12L wasn't expected to be a particularly significant update outside of foldables and tablets, it did contain API changes, thus it made sense for Google to extend the Android Beta Program beyond its normal release cycle so developers could test it. However, Android 12L was also one of those Quarterly Platform Releases, and as it became stable, Google has now extended the programme into this following QPR release, despite the lack of any major API modifications.
Google went from evaluating just major releases in its Android Beta Program to testing every quarterly update that the Feature Drops were built on in only two stages. In retrospect, Google was actually upfront in a Reddit announcement in late 2021 that the Android Beta Program would continue into Android 12 itself (and it even specifically called out Feature Drops), but communication was still unclear, especially since, as we now know, Android 12L would have been an exception regardless by introducing API changes. Many of us, I believe, thought that the program's extension would "stop" after 12L was launched and resume with Android 13 betas, which are scheduled in April.
It's a perplexing scenario made worse by the fact that some individuals (like myself) are switching to beta releases not just for an early peek or to test unstable features, but also to repair problems.
Given the number and severity of faults with the phones, Google's Pixel 6 update situation has been an unpleasant one. For about a month, my Pixel 6 Pro couldn't even connect to Wi-Fi properly. Google emphasised that these betas feature patches for issues like this even if a stable update hasn't yet been released (for whatever reason), and some individuals took advantage of this chance to hop into the latest Android betas merely to get their phones running again. Unless users want to delete their phones, they're stuck in this beta track until the next window opens to exit – windows that Google doesn't adequately explain outside of Reddit posts.
When the programme only ran once a year, Google occasionally made the opt-out procedure completely automatic once major updates were released, but it was still a good idea to double-check. However, when the Android Beta Program evolves into what appears to be continuous testing, things will become more complicated.
But that's not the only way Google has failed to convey what's going on. Remember how there's a distinction between Quarterly Platform Releases and Feature Drop updates? The QPR release notes page first conflated the two – even Google couldn't keep track of what was going on. Furthermore, for a "beta" that presumably seeks consumer feedback, Google hasn't mentioned a single change for the latest QPR3 Beta 1 version. How can beta testers offer relevant input if you can't even tell them what they should be testing?
What Google's got here is a failure to communicate
Google has begun to change parts of its messaging in response, such as revising the "Feature Drop" phrasing on the release notes page. However, this is only one little modification in reaction to a problem so perplexing that Google couldn't keep track of it, and it still doesn't address its message in other ways. When it comes down to it, Google has to be proactive rather than reactive in this situation - all of this could have been readily foreseeable.
I've reached out to Google with queries about all of these concerns, but the firm has yet to answer. To be sure, none of this has a broad influence outside of the Android Beta Program. Stable releases are used by the great majority of consumers. Nothing has changed for them (save for the Pixel 6's irritating update delays and a few who may enter the betas to acquire them early). However, this affects many of the more important Android opinion-makers, from developers to enthusiasts, and their dissatisfaction may be perceived by more popular Android users. Furthermore, if even Google's passionate audience is perplexed — and these are folks who are all too accustomed to deciphering minute and nuanced distinctions — that should be cause for concern.
Google, in my opinion, should pause here before the Android 13 betas are released as scheduled in April and get its messaging right, improving engagement with consumers, and putting out a plan for how the changes to the Android Beta Program will fit in with subsequent major and minor releases. A excellent Android Developers Blog post on the issue from the Android team outlining how major and minor Android releases would be tested in the future, as well as some adjustments to the programme itself, would be beneficial.
To reduce confusion, I believe the major Android version release test programme and these QPR tests should be separate, mutually exclusive programmes with separate registration and programme names — let the QPR testing keep the more general Android Beta Program name and give the major Android release testing a new one that makes it clear that it's targeting developers looking to test API changes.
I also believe that Google could make it a little easier for consumers using beta and Developer Preview releases to move to and from the Android Beta Program by immediately telling them (through on-device alerts) when the opportunity to opt-out without deleting a phone opens and ends. They won't be stuck with bootlooping phones, as was the case with the recent Android 12 QPR3 update, which Google issued to customers who didn't opt out of the Android Beta Program before downloading Android 13 DP1.
While some of these changes to the Android Beta Program occurred gradually in retrospect, the issue remains perplexing for the time being, and Google would be well to rectify it before Android 13 complicates matters even further. With the continuing Pixel 6 fiasco, it already has enough other update difficulties to worry about.
