Android 13: Major new Google software update release date arrives early

A Google logo and Android statue are seen at the Googleplex in Menlo Park, California (AFP via Getty Images)

Google is releasing its major new update, Android 13.

The release comes slightly earlier than usual: last year’s Android 12 came in October, with Android 11 arriving in September 2020.

But Android 13 is arriving on Pixel devices now, bringing with it a host of new changes.

The most obvious changes are aesthetic, with a new look that allows third-party devices to match the phone’s design and a new look and feel for some apps such as the music and podcast app.

Many of the other features bring Android in line with the Apple ecosystem. Different devices will now work better together, for instance, with support for sharing messages or copy and pasting between phones and laptops.

It also adds new privacy controls, so that apps should only be able to see the information users choose to share with them. Apps can no longer see a person’s full camera roll, for instance, and will try to make it so that developers are not able to pull personal information from the clipboard.

The update is being released now the Pixel 4, 5 and 6. It will arrive as an over the air update – and should be available straight away, though that might depend on what phone network or carrier you are on.

The update will roll out “later this year” to other devices from “Samsung Galaxy, Asus, HMD (Nokia phones), iQOO, Motorola, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Sharp, Sony, Tecno, vivo, Xiaomi and more”, Google said. Neither Google or those manufacturers gave any more specific information on when it might arrive.