Android 11 Beta just released for your phone, if it's a Pixel 2+

Today Google VP of Android Engineering Dave Burke revealed the update Android fans had been waiting for: Android 11 Beta. As of today, Android 11 Beta is available for a variety of smartphones (starting with Google Pixel 2 and newer). If you'd like to download this software, you'll need to agree with Google on a set of rules, including but not limiting to the idea that you'll share errors in the software should you find said errors in your day-to-day play with Android 11 Beta on your phone.

Android 11 will bring Google Pixel users a set of features that've been long awaited in some cases, and completely shocking in others. You'll find updated Voice Access, "improved performance," and a new screen recorder feature. There's also a newly updates Share Menu and new privacy controls.

Perhaps most excellent in the Privacy Control update is the automatic reset feature. Apps sometimes request permission from you to access data on your phone – like location data. If you've not used an app in a given amount of time (like several months, for example), those permissions will be cut off. This update also ads "one time" permissions, so an app will only gain access to a given permission that ONE session – not forever into the future.

This update also adds new media controls for systems like YouTube Music and Spotify. If you're playing a song, you'll see that song (and the associated app) in your notifications pull-down menu. In the upper right-hand corner of that notification you'll see the device on which the music is being played, where applicable. With this update, that device can be tapped and changed with ease.

Android 11 Beta was released by Google today, June 10, 2020, for Pixel smartphones. This update can be loaded to Pixel 2 and newer devices, and will soon be available for a wider variety of Android devices as well. UPDATE: Take a peek at the Android Beta Program link to see if Google's made the download available yet – if not, just wait a little bit longer! It SHOULD be released by the end of the day here on the 10th – good luck to us all!