Android TV 13 update focuses on multitasking, picture-in-picture, and accessibility features

At Google I/O 2022, Google detailed many of its updates to the Android TV operating system, with a focus on three specific areas. Across performance, accessibility features, and multitasking, the company had a lot to share. It even went on to discuss the long-awaited multi-user profiles that keep popping up without an official release!

We’re excited about the future of Android TV OS, now with over 110 million monthly active devices, including millions of Google TVs. Android TV and Google TV are available on over 300 partners worldwide, including 7 of the 10 largest smart TV OEMs and over 170 pay TV operators. And thanks to the hard work of our developer community, there are more than 10,000 apps available on TV, with more being added everyday.

Shobana Radhakrishnan, Senior Director of Engineering, Google TV

The most notable change is that new picture-in-picture support designed for TVs now supports expanded mode to make better use of the larger screen and improved multitasking. Essentially, when PiP is activated on a playing video, it will enter docked mode by default and be resizable for things like video calls where more participants need to be shown on screen. However, these elements will never overlay vital UI elements thanks to a new “Keep-Clear” API.

Additionally, new keyboard layouts will be supported for physical keyboards to better operate in Android TV apps thanks to the InputDevice API. HDMI state changes are now surfaced to the “MediaSession” lifecycle, and if handled properly, content playback will stop playing once the TV is powered off instead of continuing despite the power being cut.

You can watch the entire Android TV and Google TV keynote below, or you can see all of the changes discussed and more on the official Android Developers changelog for Android TV 13. Let me know in the comments if you’re excited about the Android 13 Beta for TV. Right now, it’s only available on ADT-3 devices (streaming media player developer kits) and must be flashed, but it will be released later this year to everyone.