If you want to live on the bleeding edge of Android updates, or you’re a developer who needs to test apps on upcoming Android releases, there’s some good news. Google is overhauling the complicated Android Developer Previews into a new Canary channel.

New major updates to Android have traditionally started as Developer Preview builds accessible to Pixel phones and tablets (and Nexus devices in the good old days), which have to be flashed with a computer over a USB connection. After a few of those releases, Google releases a Beta version, and then eventually a final version is available. If you stayed on the beta program, you are automatically enrolled in beta versions of the next Android release whenever they are available. However, when the first Developer Previews of the next Android release arrived, you had to flash your device again to try it out.

Google has announced a new Canary release channel for the Android operating system, replacing the Developer Preview program. If you decide to install it on a supported Pixel phone, you get a continuous stream of the latest platform builds through over-the-air (OTA) updates. You get new features and fixes as soon as they’re available, and when the first builds for the next major Android release are ready, they are automatically pushed to you.

This is similar to how Microsoft handles Windows Insider Canary/Dev channels, and it mirrors the existing release channels for the Chrome web browser. If you need the cutting-edge Android experience, bugs and all, Canary is for you. The existing Beta channel is sticking around, which will get new Android releases after Canary and (hopefully) with fewer bugs and stability problems.

Google said in a blog post, “The Canary channel is intended for developers that want to explore and test with the earliest pre-release Android APIs and potential behavior changes. Builds from the Canary channel will have passed our automated tests as well as experienced a short test cycle with internal users. You should expect bugs and breaking changes. These bleeding-edge builds will not be the best choice for someone to use as their primary or only device.”

There aren’t many people that need to try out Android’s earliest builds, but now that option is easier than ever, as long as you have a supported Pixel device. There’s still no sign of early testing releases for phones and tablets from other manufacturers. Some of those companies do provide beta releases, including OnePlus and Lenovo, but they aren’t handled by Google.

Source: Android Developers Blog