Google launches the first beta version of Android 17, and adopts a continuous release plan for developers

Google on Wednesday released the first beta of Android 17, which brings performance improvements and a way to add new features to its media and camera apps. More importantly, it changes how developers access new APIs and newer release features.

With this release, the company is ditching developer betas and adopting a continuous canary channel to push updates to developers. This is similar to the way Google approaches web browser development, as Google has a Canary Channel for Chrome as well.

Because of this approach, features and APIs become available to developers once they are approved in internal testing, the company said. Additionally, Canary Channel allows for over-the-air updates, benefiting developers with a more integrated workflow and better ways to test their apps.

Google said it is targeting March for platform stability, with the planned release of Android 17 in the second quarter of 2026. With the release of Android 16 last year, Google adopted a two-release-per-calendar-year structure, with a major SDK release in the first half and a minor SDK release in the second half of the year. The company took this step to give time to device manufacturers to more quickly roll out the latest version to devices and reduce fragmentation in the Android ecosystem.

Android 17 will prevent developers from opting out of resizing restrictions. This means that developers cannot force orientation or resize on devices with larger screens. This is Google’s way of making more apps work better on tablets and devices that fold in different orientations and window sizes.

Google is also adding more camera capabilities to Android 17. It’s adding application programming interfaces (APIs) to let developers handle camera transitions more smoothly, support for the VVC (H.266) video codec, better handling of audio loudness across apps to maintain a consistent volume level, and tighter background audio controls.

Android 17 also brings performance improvements, reduced missing frames, and a better garbage collection mechanism to clean up memory. The company is improving Wi-Fi connectivity with better proximity detection and secure peer detection as well.