Android versions: A living history from 1.0 to 14

Android version 6.0: Marshmallow

In the grand scheme of things, 2015's Marshmallow was a fairly minor Android release — one that seemed more like a 0.1-level update than anything deserving of a full number bump. But it started the trend of Google releasing one major Android version per year and that version always receiving its own whole number.

Marshmallow's most attention-grabbing element was a screen-search feature called Now On Tap — something that, as I said at the time, had tons of potential that wasn't fully tapped. Google never quite perfected the system and ended up quietly retiring its brand and moving it out of the forefront the following year.

JR Raphael / IDG

Android 6.0 did introduce some stuff with lasting impact, though, including more granular app permissions, support for fingerprint readers, and support for USB-C.

Android versions 7.0 and 7.1: Nougat

Google's 2016 Android Nougat releases provided Android with a native split-screen mode, a new bundled-by-app system for organizing notifications, and a Data Saver feature. Nougat added some smaller but still significant features, too, like an Alt-Tab-like shortcut for snapping between apps.

JR Raphael / IDG

Perhaps most pivotal among Nougat's enhancements, however, was the launch of the Google Assistant — which came alongside the announcement of Google's first fully self-made phone, the Pixel, about two months after Nougat's debut. The Assistant would go on to become a critical component of Android and most other Google products and is arguably the company's foremost effort today.

Android version 8.0 and 8.1: Oreo

Android Oreo added a variety of niceties to the platform, including a native picture-in-picture mode, a notification snoozing option, and notification channels that offer fine control over how apps can alert you.

JR Raphael / IDG

The 2017 release also included some noteworthy elements that furthered Google's goal of aligning Android and Chrome OS and improving the experience of using Android apps on Chromebooks, and it was the first Android version to feature Project Treble — an ambitious effort to create a modular base for Android's code with the hope of making it easier for device-makers to provide timely software updates.

Android version 9: Pie

The freshly baked scent of Android Pie, a.k.a. Android 9, wafted into the Android ecosystem in August of 2018. Pie's most transformative change was its hybrid gesture/button navigation system, which traded Android's traditional Back, Home, and Overview keys for a large, multifunctional Home button and a small Back button that appeared alongside it as needed.

JR Raphael/IDG

Pie included some noteworthy productivity features, too, such as a universal suggested-reply system for messaging notifications, a new dashboard of Digital Wellbeing controls, and more intelligent systems for power and screen brightness management. And, of course, there was no shortage of smaller but still-significant advancements hidden throughout Pie's filling, including a smarter way to handle Wi-Fi hotspots, a welcome twist to Android's Battery Saver mode, and a variety of privacy and security enhancements.

Android version 10

Google released Android 10 — the first Android version to shed its letter and be known simply by a number, with no dessert-themed moniker attached — in September of 2019. Most noticeably, the software brought about a totally reimagined interface for Android gestures, this time doing away with the tappable Back button altogether and relying on a completely swipe-driven approach to system navigation.

Android 10 packed plenty of other quietly important improvements, including an updated permissions system with more granular control over location data along with a new system-wide dark theme, a new distraction-limiting Focus Mode, and a new on-demand live captioning system for any actively playing media.

JR Raphael/IDG

Android version 11

Android 11, launched at the start of September 2020, was a pretty substantial Android update both under the hood and on the surface. The version's most significant changes revolve around privacy: The update built upon the expanded permissions system introduced in Android 10 and added in the option to grant apps location, camera, and microphone permissions only on a limited, single-use basis.

Android 11 also made it more difficult for apps to request the ability to detect your location in the background, and it introduced a feature that automatically revokes permissions from any apps you haven't opened lately. On the interface level, Android 11 included a refined approach to conversation-related notifications along with a new streamlined media player, a new Notification History section, a native screen-recording feature, and a system-level menu of connected-device controls.

JR Raphael/IDG

Android version 12

Google officially launched the final version of Android 12 in October 2021 and started rolling the software out to its own Pixel devices soon after — alongside the launch of its new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones.

In a twist from the last several Android versions, the most significant progressions with Android 12 are mostly on the surface. Android 12 features the biggest reimagining of Android's interface since 2014's Android 5.0 (Lollipop) version. That version, as we discussed a moment ago, was the first to showcase Google's then-new Material Design standard. And this one is the first to integrate an updated and completely overhauled take on that standard — something known as Material You.

Material You brings a dramatically different look and feel to the entire Android experience, and it isn't limited only to system-level elements, either. Eventually, Android 12's design principles will stretch into both apps on your phone and Google services on the web. The same principles will show up on Chromebooks, Smart Displays, and Google-associated wearables as well. And since a huge part of the Material You concept is allowing you (get it?) to customize the palette and other specifics of the interface's appearance — even having your phone generate dynamic personalized themes for you on the fly, based on the colors of your phone's wallpaper at any given moment — the changes run deep and will absolutely be noticeable.

Notably, most of Material You's most meaningful design advancements will likely be available only on Google's own Pixel phones, at least to start. After years of having third-party device-makers muck around with the Android interface and introduce all sorts of arbitrary change for the sake of change, Google finally seems to be embracing the fact that its own Android design choices are not going to be universal — and in doing so, it's turning the limited availability of that interface and everything around it into a Pixel feature instead of a Google liability.

Google

Surface-level elements aside, Android 12 brings a (long overdue) renewed focus to Android's widget system along with a host of important foundational enhancements in the areas of performance, security, and privacy. The update provides more powerful and accessible controls over how different apps are using your data and how much information you allow apps to access, for instance, and it includes a new isolated section of the operating system that allows A.I. features to operate entirely on a device, without any potential for network access or data exposure.

Google

And while Android 12 is still making its way to some devices as we speak, another new major Android version is already in the works and out in the world.

Android version 13

Android 13, launched in August 2022, is one of Google's strangest Android versions yet. The software is simultaneously one of the most ambitious updates in Android history and one of the most subtle version changes to date. It's an unusual duality, and it ultimately all comes down to what type of device you're using to experience the software.

On the former front, Android 13 introduces a whole new interface design for both tablets and foldable phones, with a renewed focus on creating an exceptional large-screen experience in the operating system itself and within apps (as first observed and reported by Computerworld in January). The enhancements in that area include a fresh framework and series of guidelines for app optimizations along with a more capable split-screen mode for multitasking and a ChromeOS-like desktop-style taskbar that makes it easy to access frequently used apps from anywhere.

Google/JR Raphael

Beyond that, Android 13 appears to lay the groundwork for a whole new type of multipurpose product — one that could function as a stationary Smart Display and then allow you to detach its screen and use it as a tablet. The software shows signs of supporting an intriguing new series of shared-surface widgets and screensavers along with an expanded multiuser profile system for that purpose. And while we haven't seen most of those elements in action yet, signs suggest Google's upcoming Pixel Tablet could be the place where they'll all come together.

On regular phones, Android 13 is much less significant — and in fact, most people probably won't even notice its arrival. Along with some minor visual refinements, the software introduces an expanded clipboard system that allows you to see and edit text as it's copied, a native QR code scanning function within the Android Quick Settings area, and a smattering of under-the-hood improvements connected to privacy, security, and performance.

Android 13 started rolling out to Google's current Pixel phones in August. If past Android upgrade trends are any indication, it'll likely reach the first non-Google-made devices later this year and then continue rolling out slowly to more phones and tablets as the months progress.

Android version 14

Android 14 took its first baby steps into the world in early February 2023, when Google announced the inaugural developer preview of the software.

The company has slowly but surely been pushing forward on development of this latest Android version in the weeks since. In total, we're expecting to see two developer preview releases and then four beta versions leading up to a final Android 14 release sometime in the late summer or early fall months.

As is often the case, Android 14's earliest versions don't tell us too terribly much about what the update will ultimately entail. Many of the changes we've seen so far are more under the hood and aimed at improving system performance and privacy, as well as continuing the work from the previous Android version to create a more optimized experience for anyone using a tablet or foldable phone.

That being said, Android 14 does already appear to include a handful of more noticeable surface-level enhancements — such as a new system for creating visual alerts around incoming notifications and a long-under-development improvement to make Android's side-swipe-in back gesture more intuitive to use.

Google's also testing a new feature in Android 14 that'd let you "clone" an app on your device and run two separate versions of it simultaneously — which could be a handy way to use a service both with a personal account and with a professional identity, even if the app itself doesn't explicitly support multiple profiles.

All of this is almost certainly the start, and we're bound to see more Android 14 elements coming into focus in the months ahead as Google pulls back the curtains on this year's progress.

This article was originally published in November 2017 and most recently updated in April 2023.