Google quietly rolls out test version of Android upgrade

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google has released a test version of its annual upgrade to its Android software without the usual fanfare heralding the latest operating system powering most smartphones.

The debut of Android 11's “beta" version was announced Wednesday in a blog post, along with video tutorials for the makers of smartphone applications on Google's YouTube service.

Android 11 will offer several new features making it easier for people to find notifications about incoming texts. It also gives users the ability to quickly open a digital conversation by pressing on a floating “bubble” identifying the person on the other end of a text. The new Android bubbles mirror a feature that Facebook has been using in its Messenger app for years.

The next version of the software also is designed to do a better job of guarding people's privacy, something Google is frequently accused of invading as it collects information to sell ads.

Users will be asked if they wish to grant an app access to their location for one time only and then Android won't allow access until the user authorizes it again. Android 11 also will automatically identify when an app hasn't been used for an extended time and turn off previous permissions that users may have forgotten they granted in the past.

The beta version is primarily downloaded by app makers while Google continues to work out the bugs in the software before the operating system is offered for free to owners of smartphones running on Android. But smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers don't always quickly push out the next version of Android software to users, leaving many devices running on older versions of the software for years.

Google usually previews the next version of its Android software during an annual event held in May near its headquarters in Mountain View,...