On Monday, Google released the second beta for Android 14 QPR2. This is the second beta for the quarterly platform release (QPR) for Android 14, which we should see land in March. With that said, this is mostly a bug-fixing update for Pixel. And there are not many new features that Google is highlighting right now.
Google says that this update includes optimizations to performance and stability on top of bug fixes. In its post on the r/Android_Beta subreddit, Google notes that it has fixed an issue where battery usage information reported in the system setting was incorrect. It also fixed another bug where the fingerprint icon on the lock screen would sometimes display before other information had loaded in always-on display mode. Google has also fixed an issue that sometimes caused the biometric prompt to crash, causing it to be dismissed before a user could interact with it. And finally, it has fixed an issue that sometimes caused the Internet Quick Settings tile to indicate that there was no WiFi Connection.
So there are not a lot of changes here, and where we are still about three months away from this one launching, we expect to see a few more betas available to squash some more bugs.
You can register for the beta today
If you’re daring and you really want to check out the Android 14 QPR2 beta today, you can do so. Just head over to the Android Beta Program website and enroll one (or more) of your compatible devices. Then head into Settings > System > System Update to update your phone. But keep in mind that if you want to revert back to the last stable build, you will need to do a full factory reset.
So, what’s actually new in Android 14 QPR2? Well, Google has added Selective app screen recording, which allows users to choose a specific app to record instead of the full screen. Google is also revamping the volume slider again, and there are also some tweaks to the notifications settings popup.
So far, QPR2 isn’t setting up to be a huge update for Android 14, though we’d expect that Google is saving most stuff for Android 15 at this point. However, Android 14 QPR1 did bring in quite a few new features, including one that we’ve been begging Google to add for years – a better battery life screen.