Android 14 is finally here being released on October 4th with the internal code name Upside Down Cake. It is already available for Pixel 4a. It is packed with customization features like generating wallpapers with AI to accessibility features like connecting hearing aids to your phone. In this article, we will cover the best Android 14 features you need to know. Let’s start with some ecosystem features first.
Table of Contents
1. Use the Android Camera as a Webcam
Most laptops come with low-quality webcams. But you can make your video calls much better by using your Android phone as a webcam. This feature was introduced in iOS last year and works great with Mac. But the Webcam feature on Android works on Windows, Mac, and even ChromeOS.
However, you need to connect your phone to your computer via a USB cable. Then you can simply tap on the USB notification and select the Webcam option to start using your phone’s camera as your system’s webcam.
Are you using a Samsung Galaxy? Then check out OneUI 6 features based on Android 14.
2. Ultra HDR Format
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and allows photos and videos to have both shadows and highlights more exposed. The new Ultra HDR format is aiming to bring 10-bit HDR support. This means it will support 1024 shades of each color making it support up to 1 billion colors.
Also, this HDR gain map is stored as metadata on JPEG supporting backward compatibility. This way, the system will display SDR images on non-HDR screens, but colors and contrast will pop when displayed on an HDR-enabled panel.
3. Restricting Photo and Video Access
A privacy-focused Android 14 feature. Whenever you have to upload an image on social media apps, you have to give permission to the app to access your entire storage. Why do you want to give that app access to your entire storage just to upload one image? That is where the new permission setting comes in. Now instead of granting permission to your entire storage, you can grant permission to specific photos and videos that you want to upload.
When the storage permission pop-up shows up, tap on Select photos and videos option and choose the photos that you want to upload without giving complete access to the app.
4. Data protection with Third-party apps
Similarly, when we are granting permissions to an app, we can’t be sure if the app is sharing that data with some third-party services. Now with Android 14, when you are granting location permission, you can see if they share the data with third-party services or not and decide if you want to grant the permission or not.
However, as of now, it only works with location permission in Android 14. Nonetheless, it’s a good start for a good privacy feature.
5. Battery Settings
There are two major updates with the battery in Android 14. First, is battery efficiency. Google claims Android 14 is more efficient than previous Android versions and will not consume as much battery to do a similar task helping you to get more battery life than ever before.
Also, now you can check Battery cycles to see how many times the battery has been charged. There is also screen time which shows how much you have used the phone since the last charge. However, you cannot check the Battery Health as of now.
6. Separate Ring and Notification Volume
Previously, Ring (when someone calls you) and Notifications had a single volume slider to adjust the volume. Now both Ringtone and Notification have their own volume slider, so you can set Ringtone to the full volume while notifications to barely audible levels.
Apart from that, Android 14 also supports Flash notifications. So it will use the camera flash on your phone to notify you when there is a call or notification.
Some apps including Google’s own do not use the native Android share sheet but instead prefer their own. For example, Google Photos uses its own share sheet with features like generating a link or creating an album. More than that, it also has native photo sharing through chats right inside the app.
Now all such apps can use Android’s native share sheet as it offers apps to add their custom options right inside the share sheet. So when you share any photo from Google Photos, you will see Android’s native share sheet with options to create links and message people on Google Photos.
Even today, there are apps that do not optimize the navigation bar. So the navigation bar is not merged into the app and has different colors making it look odd and unoptimized. Now in the developer settings on Android 14, you can enable the transparent navigation bar option. This will force the navigation bar to display the same color as the app you have opened. While this forced output is much better than having a weird navigation bar with different colors, it still does not look as good as the optimized version.
9. Health Connect Integrated into Android 14
Health Connect is a much-awaited health feature that comes with Android 14. It will let you check data from different fitness and health apps on one screen. Let’s say you use Google Fit for tracking sleep and the Samsung Health app for tracking fitness. Now with Health Connect, you can collect and merge different data points and metrics from different sources to get a unified view of all your health data.
Previously, Health Connect was a standalone app available on the Play Store. Google has integrated it into Android 14 OS. However, whether Health Connect is only baked into Pixel phones or will work on phones from different OEMs is yet to be confirmed.
10. Non-Linear Font Sizing
There are a few issues with font sizing on Android. While it does work well, it increases the font size of all the text on the screen. So by the time, text in small fonts increases to the desired size, text in larger fonts will either go past the edge of the screen or take multiple lines.
In Android 14, Google is implementing Non-Linear font sizing. So a bigger text will not increase the font size as much as the smaller text. This will allow you to increase the font size by up to 200%.
As an added bonus, now you can add a font size option in the quick settings panel so you can quickly change font size when required from any screen.
11. Accessibility Settings
The magnifier accessibility setting is completely revamped. You can change the zoom level easily and also the size of the magnifier. Even the entire UI looks much better with material elements making it a breeze to use.
The second accessibility setting introduced in Android 14 is hearing aid options. Instead of just connecting them like any other Bluetooth device, now you can connect hearing aids under hearing aid settings in accessibility. That way, you can easily route audio to different outputs and also can access your hearing aid controls faster with a shortcut.
12. Google Clock Shows Weather Info
When you add different cities in Google Clock, along with showing the time in that city, it will also show the current weather over there. This includes both the temperature and other weather conditions. You don’t have to grant any location permission to the Google Clock app. It uses the Google Weather service from Google app for the data.
13. Better Physical Keyboard Support
You could connect keyboards and mice to Android for a very long time. Now you can customize modifier keys, keyboard shortcuts, remap buttons, etc. directly from Android settings. Apart from that, you can also customize touchpad gestures. While previous versions of Android have hidden the keyboard settings, Android 14 will show you those directly under System > Keyboard.
14. Pixel Exclusive Features
Apart from all the features mentioned above, there are many Android 14 features that are exclusive to Pixel phones and tablets.
Lock Screen Pin
Now instead of 4 digits pins, the default pin length on unlocking the phone is 6 digits. Also, by default, you cannot check the number that you have entered. Instead, it will show some random material you shape as you enter the pin. Finally, you don’t have to tap on the enter option after entering the pin. Once you are done with your 6-digit PIN, the phone automatically logs you in. However, you can customize it to your needs and convenience.
Face Unlock for Apps
Previous Pixel phones have a class 2 face unlock biometric. Though you can use it to unlock your phone, it’s not secure enough to use on banking and payment apps. Now with the Pixel 8, Google is using AI recognition to unlock the device which makes the face unlock more secure without other sensors. Class 3 face unlock on Pixel 8 series devices can use face unlock instead of a fingerprint scanner or typing the pin to open the apps.
Free Built-in VPN
Google has a VPN service under its Google One subscription. But if you own a Pixel 7, Google provides the service for free. In Pixel 8, the VPN is integrated into the Settings app making it easy to access and use for everyone. The same option may also come to Pixel 7 in the near future, but nothing so far.
Generate AI Wallapapers
The Wallpaper and Style app is completely redesigned. You can use generative AI to create wallpapers directly inside the Wallpaper and Style app. Also, all the wallpapers generated are quite good.
Monochrome Theme
Monochrome themes are all the rage these days and it is now here on Android 14. Just set any wallpaper and when setting the theme color, select the Other colors option and tap black and white color to set the monochrome theme on your Pixel phone.
Screen Recording Hides System UI Elements
Screen recordings normally include the status bar, navigation bar, etc. Now, you can choose to hide these UI elements for a cleaner screen recording. As that also hides your notifications, it also adds a layer of security if you have to share the video with anyone or upload it online.
Duel Screen Intreprer mode
Google Translate and Google Assistant have an Interpreter mode. So whenever you can talk to any person who speaks a different language, the service will translate their language into your language and vice versa.
For foldable phones like Pixel Fold, it will use the two screens to make the work easier. So it will show what you are talking to the person in their language on the outer display and will translate their language to your language and show it on the inner display.
Opens RAW images in the Selected Editing App
When you save photos in RAW format, when you tap on the edit option on Google Photos, you can set it to open on your favorite editing app like Lightroom, etc. However, you have to go to Google Photos settings and select the desired app for the feature to work as intended. But your normal JPEG images will open in the Google Photos editor only, there is no option to customize it.
Best Android 14 Features
Android 14 is more about fine-tuning and adding small features to make the existing platform more usable and stable. It’s not an overhaul of the entire OS like with Android 12 or feature-packed like Android 13. Nonetheless, the focus on accessibility and privacy is a step in the right direction.
