What you need to know
- Google posted its release notes for Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5, which brings its June security patch and a fix for vanishing widgets.
- The company is also working in several game-related fixes for the Game Dashboard and downloads, alongside a camera fix.
- Android 17 hasn't been flawless for Pixel users, as its stable launch quickly introduced problems for 5G and its display.
Android 17's first quarterly release development continues, and Google has announced another beta shortly after the OS debuted.
On the Android Beta subreddit, Google posted the patch notes for Android 17 QPR1 Beta 5, which is rolling out now to enrolled Pixels. The company says all Pixels are receiving the same build number, labeled as vCP31.260608.007 with June's security patch. These mid-June release notes detail several bug fixes, and one mentions disappearing widgets. Google says Beta 5 brings a fix for an issue that caused home screen widgets to "disappear or become unavailable in the widget picker after a device reboot."
It was reported that Google was looking into a fix for the issue, and it seems that this could occur for its next major update.
Some Pixels suffered from crashing while downloading mobile games in Android 17's QPR1 beta. Google says a fix is rolling out to solve those crashes and "device hang" during download. Another gaming issue concerned Pixels' Game Dashboard. A couple of reports were raised about this, stating they couldn't "stop screen recordings or save files." Beta 5 should solve this, but as always, users can raise any problems through the Issue Tracker.
The remainder of the changelog is as follows:
- An issue where the camera app temporarily freezes or stutters shortly after being opened from an idle state
- An issue that caused the screen to freeze with a pixelated bottom bar when waking the device from Always-On Display
- A timeout issue where the Download Manager failed to complete downloads when excluded from an active VPN connection
- An issue causing inconsistent charging completion time estimates to display on the lock screen versus the charging screensaver
- An issue causing the Private Space UI to crash and locked private apps to improperly appear in launcher search results
- An issue where a non-functional bubble option incorrectly appeared in the context menu of archived apps
- A system-level WebView rendering regression that caused Monopoly Go to freeze and crash when attempting to open mini-games
Android 17 is here, but the work's not done
It's only been a couple of weeks since Beta 4 rolled out for Android 17's first quarterly update. The patch brought May's security update, a few bug fixes, and stability improvements. However, this beta introduced a social media feature that debuted with Android 17's stable release: Screen Reactions. If you were enveloped in Google's massive June Pixel Drop and Android 17 announcements, you'd know all about it.
With Screen Reactions, users can leverage their selfie camera and their screen recordings to simulate a green screen. It sounds like an ideal scenario for content creators on TikTok or those making clips for YouTube Shorts. Android 17 hasn't been flawless in its debut. Pixel users have been quick to report 5G connectivity problems and other display issues.
Android Central's Take
Google's development continues, as we all expected. It's good to see the company working in a fix for a problem stable users are struggling with. Hopefully, this is a good sign for the other issues many have mentioned. We're still a ways out from this first quarterly release, but things look bright for now.