Google announces new Android Canary channel to replace Developer Previews

Google today is “announcing a significant evolution in [its] pre-release program” for Android. Instead of Developer Previews, we’re now getting an Android Canary release channel. The goal is to “provide earlier, more consistent access to in-development features.”

Google says the structure of the current Developer Preview approach has “inherent limitations”:

The new Android Canary channel for Pixel devices involves an initial flash (via the Android Flash Tool), but afterwards you get a “continuous, rolling stream of the latest platform builds via over-the-air (OTA) updates.”

Notably, the more consumer-facing Android Beta Program remains in place (Beta 1versus Developer Preview 1). The Canary channel is for developers that “want to explore and test with the earliest pre-release Android APIs and potential behavior changes.”

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