Alright, you made it through the Android 13 beta program and once the stable version of Android 13 was released, you were able to exit the program without having to wipe your Pixel. Now, you have the opportunity to start all over again by joining the Android 13 Quarterly Platform Release (QPR) Beta. The Quarterly Platform Release is made up of the features that Google will drop in December. You might know this as the Quarterly Pixel Feature Drop.
Android 13 QPR1 Beta hints that Face Unlock is coming to the Pixel 6 Pro
A still from the Face Unlock animation found in the Android 13 QPR1 Beta
So if you decide to install the Android 13 QPR1 Beta, the search field at the bottom of the homescreen will now (once again) look like the search field at the top of the app grid which means that the latter will have the link to the Google app at the left of the field, the microphone icon for Assistant, and the link to Google Lens at the right. However, the results still differ depending on whether you use the search on the bottom of the homescreen or the one on top of the app grid.
Here’s how to join the Android 13 QPR1 Beta
The new code related to this iteration of Face Unlock is called “Traffic Light.” Tellingly, the code is found on the Pixel 6 Pro but not the Pixel 6 or the Pixel 6a. The latter two phones don’t have an imaging sensor that offers Dual Pixel Auto-Focus (DPAF) allowing depth maps to be created.
Still from animation showing the Pixel Tablet and its dock found in Android 13 QPR1 Beta
The Android 13 QPR1 Beta also includes animations for the new Face Unlock and one for the upcoming Pixel Tablet that shows the device sliding into a dock.We’ve included still shots from both animations in this article.
If you think that you might need to leave the Beta program, make sure you back up your data before joining. Remember, Beta software can be unstable and certain apps that you rely on might not work correctly.