Google on Wednesday released the first beta of Android 17, which brings performance improvements and a way to add new features to the media and camera apps. Most importantly, it changes how developers get access to new APIs and features in the latest version.

With this release, the company has removed developer betas and adopted a continuous Canary channel to push updates for developers. This is similar to how Google approaches web browser development, because Google has a Canary channel for Chrome browsertoo.

The company says that due to this approach, features and APIs can be used by developers as soon as they are approved by internal testing. In addition, the Canary channel allows for over the air updates, benefiting developers with more integrated workflows and better ways to test their apps.

Google said it is targeting March for platform stability with the planned release of Android 17 in Q2 2026. With the release of Android 16 last year, Google adopted a two release structure in a calendar year with one major SDK released in the first half and one minor SDK released in the second half of the year. The company took this step to give device makers time to roll out the latest version faster 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 large-screen devices. This is Google’s way of making many apps work better on tablets and foldables in different orientations and window sizes.

Google also added more camera capabilities in Android 17. It added APIs to allow developers to manage camera transitions more smoothly, support for the VVC (H.266) video codec, better power management across apps to maintain consistent volume, and tighter controls for background audio.

Android 17 also brings performance improvements, a reduction in lost frames, and a better garbage collection mechanism for cleaning up memory. The company has improved Wi-Fi connectivity with better proximity detection and secure peer discovery, as well.