Google may not publish point releases anymore (with Android 12L being the exception that proves the rule), but the company is nevertheless continuing to improve its OS year-round, particularly on its own phones like theGoogle Pixel 7. Every three months, Google publishes a feature drop, a collection of some bigger improvements to the system software. This is true again today, with the company releasing the June Feature Drop to all supported Pixel phones runningAndroid 13— a week later than usual and not on the weekday it normally does, but here we are.
The highlight feature of this release are certainly the additions on the wallpaper front. LikeAndroid 14 Beta 3, the June Feature Drop brings emoji wallpaper support to Pixel phones. This allows you to mix and match your favorite emoji using different patterns and colors to create unique, animated wallpapers tweaked exactly to your liking. If you’re a fan of seeing real people or your pets on your phone, the newly added cinematic wallpapers might be the better option for you, though. Like cinematic photos in Google Photos, the feature turns your 2D images into animated backgrounds with a 3D depth effect. The company teased both emoji and cinematic wallpapers at Google I/O this year.
The company is also adding new camera features to some Pixel phones. The Pixel 6 and newer are receiving a new palm timer with the update, allowing you to raise and hold your palm when taking selfies in order to activate a timer. You first need to manually enable the 3 or 10-second timer, though. ThePixel 7 Progets an exclusive macro focus video mode. Like the name suggests, this lets you use the ultrawide’s macro focus mode to not only take photos but also videos.
A feature drop wouldn’t be complete without a Google app update, and that’s the case for the Pixel-exclusive Google Recorder app. With the update, the app lets you export transcripts into Google Docs, create videos with automatic transcriptions and speaker labels visible, and search for speakers within your transcript in the app. Google says this will start rolling out next week.
On the security front, Google Assistant now allows you to start emergency sharing or schedule a safety check with your voice. You can say “Hey Google, start a safety check for x minutes” to get started. Additionally, car crash detection can now share your location and your call status (as in, are you currently calling emergency services?) with your emergency contacts.
Google is also making the new home panel official. When you access your home controls via your lock screen shortcut or the quick settings toggle, you will now see a design that’s much more in line with the proper Google Home app. Other features that were previously spotted under development and that are now live is the option to automatically lower vibrations when you set your Pixel 7a or Pixel 6a on a table, two new Google Assistant voices, and improvements to adaptive charging, which now uses AI to predict when you will finish your charging session to optimize when to charge to 100%.
Google added a few more choice upgrades with the June Feature Drop that were spotted by others. The most important one is a privacy enhancement for your PIN entry screen. In the lock screen system settings, there is a newEnhanced PIN privacyoption that disables the button animation on the PIN entry screen and that doesn’t display the numbers you’re entering at all. In light of increased PIN shoulder surfing, with thieves trying to see you enter your PIN before taking the device, this is a welcome improvement that should be the default from the get-go.
In the design department, Google made some subtle changes to the Pixel Launcher. When you have your phone set up to automatically show the keyboard when you swipe up to reveal the app drawer, you will notice that the keyboard slides in much smoother and faster now, with the same timing as the app drawer panel itself. It’s a small tweak that makes your phone feel more responsive overall.
Older versions of Android 13 (1st image) vs new release (2nd)
There are a few more small upgrades in this release, so we’ve collected everything that’snew in Android 13’s June Feature Dropfor you.
The June Feature Drop is the last big update coming to Android 13 before the release of Android 14 later this year. Google has been testing it concurrently to its Android 14 betas over the last three months under the usual complicated “Android 13 Quarterly Platform Release 3” name, or Android 13 QPR3 for short. With today’s release, it’s coming to all Pixel phones running the stable version of Android 13. you’re able to check if the download is available for you by heading to your system settings and looking for the system update section underSystem.
