From the Editor's Desk: Why are there so many Android betas?

The next release of Android 12 is not a soccer score, but the next release of the software, following the recent launch of the new version of the operating system on some devices. You are not alone if you are confused. It seems like there is an alphabet soup of different versions of the phone to choose from right now.

Over the past few months, various phones have been getting the latest version of the operating system, called Android 12.

The March feature drop was rolled out to some of the Pixel phones as an update for big screens.

There is a new version of the operating system, known as the Quarterly Platform Release 3, which is available to be tested through the upcoming Android beta program before it is released in June.

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If you look under System, you can see about phone on any device that runs either baseline or 12L.

The problem is not with the software itself but the branding surrounding it. A lot of people assume that the new version of the operating system is only for tablets and foldables, a separate branch of the old version of the operating system.

If this latest build is the third one, then what happened to the first two? Is this a continuation of Android 12L or is it a separate branch? It is not at all clear from branding.

This statement on its official developer site explains what is going on.

Following the stable release of Android 12 to AOSP, we continue to update the platform with fixes and improvements that are then rolled out to supported devices. These releases happen on a quarterly basis through Quarterly Platform Releases, which are delivered to AOSP and to the devices as part of the feature drops.

Prior to the release of the latest version of the software, the previous versions were quietly worked away on. Prior to that, they were called maintenance releases and not tied to a quarterly schedule.

So they are not new. The fact that they are being tested publicly is new, and probably not a bad thing considering the buggy state of early builds. The first major software update for the Pixel 6 was pulled in late 2021, leaving users on an older build with a different (though less serious) menagerie of bugs until mid-January 2022.

By publicly testing the third Quarterly Platform Release for Android 12 a few months ahead of launch, Google hopes to avoid a repeat of that situation.

The first and second Quarterly Platform Releases of Android 12 actually exist.

In December of last year, the big bug-fix update for Android 12 was halted due to outstanding bugs, and it was the one that was ultimately halted on the Pixel 6 phones. Several minor updates for phones were included in the recently-launched Android 12L, along with its widely publicized tablets and foldable features.

Everything that was in the December patch is in the 12L version. Everything in the phone is in the phone.

First of all, there is actually talk about Queens now and the owners of thePixels will be able to test them months ahead of release. There was a second Queens and a bunch of new features in the second Queens and a bunch of new features in the 12L.

A look back to the past

Before we had Ls and Queens, we used to see how the releases used to be numbered. A lot of other kinds of software had a version number that was in a decimal format.

The big annual releases of the major versions of the operating system have a bunch of new user-facing features and new APIs for developers that let apps do new things. They would typically arrive in late summer and be accompanied by a new phone.

Sometimes you would have point releases, such as Android 5.1, 5.2, or 7.1. New user-facing features were not a big deal, but they did introduce a new APIs for developers. The version number was usually bumped by 0.1.

There were a few small bug fixes that changed a few things behind the scenes but didn't introduce new APIs or anything large in scope as a full point release.

Things would have changed if the number of releases in this way was still used.

•  Baseline Android 12 would, obviously, be Android 12.0.
• Then that first big December 2021 bug fix update, QPR1, would've been Android 12.0.1. 
• Android 12L, with its new APIs for tablets and foldables, would've been Android 12.1. 
• And then Android 12 QPR3, which doesn't include any new APIs, would've eventually come along as Android 12.1.1. 

The old numbered releases give a better idea of what is going on behind the scenes and how big of a deal each subsequent version is. They give the impression that the original release is old when a point release comes along. Since we now have monthly security patches that arrive independently of whichever version your device might be running, that is not really the case.

That is probably a big part of why you see the version number on your phone. You should not get hung up on anything other than the annual release of the OS you are running. The security patch date is included.

We are moving towards three software channels for the Pixel phones with the arrival of the public alphas. Depending on how quickly you want to play with new stuff, these offer varying levels of stability.

• First, you have developer preview builds — the stage Android 13 is currently at, where you can expect things to be early and potentially pretty broken. These need to be flashed manually, so they're aimed at tech-savvy users, engineers, and developers.
• In the middle, there's the Android beta program, aimed at a more general audience. It's still technically pre-release, but things like Google Pay and DRM still work, and you get to play with new Android features up to three months early. 
• And then there are the stable builds, which the vast majority of Pixel phones will be running. 

So what's next for Android?

The next minor update to the OS will be released in a few months, and it's a chance for fans to test it. This version is the successor to the previous version, and will eventually be replaced by another version. Once that launches, expect the public to be able to vote on the new version of the operating system by the end of 2022, followed by the new version in early 2023. This will likely be the new normal for the releases.

It should mean that future versions of the software will be a lot more stable on the best phones of the day, especially compared to the early days of the software. By getting more eyeballs on the next months ahead of the launch, it will be possible for Google to never have to withdraw a big software update from devices again.

The branding may be confusing, but more testing means a stable version of the software.