Google Ships Android 14 With Grab Bag of Customization Options
The latest version of Android brings both new lock-screen widgets and a new set of locks for some of your data. And like previous updates, most users of Google’s mobile operating system will have to wait to see what these features look like on their own devices.
Android 14, released Wednesday, looks to follow the pattern of last year’s Android 13 in bringing a grab-bag of updated bits. The headline description on Google’s post by engineering VP Dave Burke: “More customization, control and accessibility features.”
The most visible customization options—a major part of Google’s pitch for Android 14 at its I/O developer conference this May—govern how lock screens look and work. For example, you’ll be able to redo yours by picking one of Google’s new templates, then tweaking its layout to add custom shortcuts to whatever apps you might want to jump into after unlocking the phone.
Burke’s post also notes that the new templates can use AI routines to respond to changing conditions: “For example, if the weather is suddenly taking a turn for the worse, your lock screen weather widget will become more prominent.”
Health and medical apps, meanwhile, will be able to stash your data in a new Health Connect enclave that Google says keeps it “securely encrypted on your phone, which ensures Google or anyone else can't see or use it for any other purpose.”
Two other privacy features will give you additional oversight of how much of your info gets exposed to individual apps. The location-tracking controls that Google has tightened notably in recent years will now include notifications if an app’s developer has reported to Google that it can share location data with third parties. And a separate post for developers notes that Android
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