Android N Developer Preview 4 is now available

The last Developer Preview for Android N was released shortly after the Google I/O keynote. It has already been about a month since that release, which means it’s time for the next preview. The 4th Developer Preview is rolling out right now to Nexus devices.

This release brings Android N up to build NPD56N. The Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, and Pixel C can install the preview. We haven’t found a lot of major changes in this update. Here are the release notes for DP4:

Android N final APIs

Developer Preview 4 includes the final APIs for the upcoming Android N platform. The new API level is 24.

Play publishing

You can now publish apps that use API level 24 to Google Play, in alpha, beta, and production release channels.

Android Studio and tools updates

Along with Developer Preview 4 we’re providing the final API 24 SDK to be used with Android Studio 2.1.2 and higher. In addition, we’re releasing updated Developer Preview 4 system images for the emulator to help test your apps.

As new updates roll out for Android Studio, you should see minor improvements in the new project wizards and AVD manager as we add enhanced support for API 24. These are primarily cosmetic changes and should not stop you from getting your app ready for an update in the Play store.

Feature and API changes

• In previous versions of Android, an app activates with all of its locale resources loaded before locale negotiation begins. Starting in Android N DP4, the system negotiates resource locales individually for each resource object before the app activates
• As announced at Developer Preview 3, we’ve deferred the Launcher Shortcuts feature to a later release of Android. In Developer Preview 4, we’ve removed the Launcher Shortcuts APIs.
• We’ve changed the BLE Scanning behavior starting in DP4. We’ll prevent applications from starting and stopping scans more than 5 times in 30 seconds. For long running scans, we’ll convert them into opportunistic scans.
• The Multi-Window android:minimalHeight and android:minimalWidth attributes have been renamed to android:minHeight and android:minWidth.

If you’re a member of the Android Beta program, the update should arrive soon. To install the update manually, find the images files and OTA files for your device.