The 7 Best Android 13 Features You Should Check Right Away

In Summary

Google released Android 13, the latest version of Android, to the public in mid-August.
Since then, it has arrived on supported Pixel devices and in beta form on a number of other devices.
Android 13 comes with a number of new features and fixes. Here are seven of the best to try out if you have got Android 13 on your phone.

So you have got yourself some Tiramisu. Of the Android variety, we mean. We can argue endlessly as to whether Google should have stuck to giving “sweet” names to its Android versions instead of going the number way, but what cannot be denied is that Android 13 comes with a number of new features that add a lot to your smartphone experience.

So if you have got Android 13 on your phone, whether in final or in beta form, there is a lot you can do on your device that you could not in the past. A lot of the changes that Android 13 brings are tweaks below the software surface that need you to do nothing, such as apps now being all super nice and polite and asking permission to send you notifications. Still, there are some features that you need to activate or actually use to realize that they exist.

Table of Contents

7 Best Android 13 Features You Should Check out

So if you have got a slice of Android Tiramisu, here are seven things you simply must do to get a real taste of the Android Thirteen life:

Note:

We have used a Pixel 6a running Android 13 as a reference for the following.

Go ahead, get some new wallpapers

Let’s start from the home screen itself. Google had brought in some “Basic Colors” to its wallpapers as a part of the Material You interface that it introduced with Android 12.

Well, it has expanded that portfolio with 16 new colors, seven of which are single tones and nine dual tones. Yes, you might have your own collection of third-party apps or maybe want to park a picture of your favorite fur baby out there, but we would recommend you give the new collection a try. There are some quirky and rather interesting options out there.

How to do this:

Go to Settings on your device
Select Wallpapers & Style
Pick the wallpaper and basic color scheme that you want

Or just long press on the home screen and choose Wallpaper & Style, and carry on.

Get those app icons to blend in with the wallpaper

In Android 13, you can make the app icons play nice with the wallpaper in terms of shade. So you can have app icons that blend in with the wallpaper you choose in Step 1. Just remember that this will not happen with third-party wallpapers at the moment (at least it did not happen on our Pixel 6a) or any picture that you choose to place as your wallpaper.

The app developers also have to support this feature so that their app icons can blend in, so as of now, you end up with some apps (mainly Google ones) changing shade to be like the wallpaper, and many third-party ones still being their normal colors.

Hopefully, this should change in the coming days as more developers discover the delight of icons that look as if they are a part of the wallpaper. Even now, it is super cool to try out.

How to do this:

Go to Settings
Select Wallpaper & style
Turn on Themed icons.

You can also reach Wallpaper & style by simply long pressing on your phone’s home screen and then turning on the Themed icons.

Make each app mind its different language!

There’s a language for every app in Android 13. So if you wish to search in English but read news in Spanish and browse YouTube in Afrikaans… well, you can do so.

Yes, even after you have set a System language in the installation process.

So you can have apps in different languages on your phone. Perfect for those multilingual types. Once again, the app developers have to support this feature for you to be able to use it. As of now, Google’s apps support this.

How to do this:

Go to Settings
Choose System, and then choose Languages & input.
Choose App Languages
Go ahead and set languages for the apps appearing on the list.

Put a QR code scanner in that notification bar

Yes, you could always scan QR codes from Android devices, but Android 13 makes it even easier to do so. You do not have to open any app or even the camera. All you need to do is pull down the notification bar (Google calls it a notification shade), and a QR code scanner will be there. In fact, you can even swipe down from the lock screen to access it.

How to do this:

Pull down the notification shade.
If the QR code scanner is not there already, select the pencil icon to edit the shade
From the options that appear, choose Scan QR code.
Grab this option and drag it into the notification shade. Done!

Cut, edit copy and THEN paste – yep, you can, this is Android 13!

As writers and editors, our personal favorite Android 13 feature is the improved clipboard. Now you can not only copy and paste text from one app to another, but you can also actually edit the text before pasting it. This is incredibly handy for adding notes and references to text or even making corrections and forwarding them. Researchers will love this too.

How to do this:

Highlight the text you want to copy
Select Copy
When you do this, the copied text will appear in a small box in the bottom left corner of the display
Tap this text box to see the text you have copied, and add or remove whatever you wish to it
Tap Done and then either share this edited text to different apps or paste it in another, depending on your wish.

Vibe with the vibrations, and make the phone vibrate before ringing!

If you are one of those who is obsessed with vibrations and haptics, then you are likely to consider Android 13 a gift from the gods of tech.

Android 13 has a whole new Sounds and Vibrations section, which lets you control the level of vibrations for events like calls, notifications, and alarms. You can also change levels of touch feedback (such as when you are typing or simply tapping the screen)and media-related vibrations.

Our favorite feature, though, is the option to set the phone to vibrate for a while before starting to ring – it is a great option to have if you do not want your phone to ring loudly and do not want to put it totally on silent or DND either.

How to do this:

Go to Settings
Choose Sound & vibration
Select Vibration & haptics (yes, it is a whole section now!)
Choose vibration levels for different events
To make the phone vibrate before ringing, choose to Vibrate first, then ring gradually.

Do away with that HUGE double line clock on the lockscreen

One of the most iconic features of the Pixel series is the large double-line clock that appears on the lock screen. Well, even the most iconic features can get tiresome after a while, and we guess Google realized that because, with Android 13, you get an option to turn off that massive two-lined clock and revert to a simple one in the top corner. Those wanting a cleaner lock screen now can have one! Relax, you can bring back the biggie clock later on if you wish.

How to do this:

Go to Settings
Select Display, and then choose Lock Screen,
In Lock Screen, turn off Double-line clock.

One more thing: Android 13 Easter egg

This is Android, so of course, there will be some hidden goodies inside it. So far, only one has been discovered, and it is kinda cute and bubbly. Literally.

To see this,

Head to Settings and open About phone.
Once here, scroll down to Android version, which should have ’13’ below it. Tap on this.
This will open the Android version screen with the Android version (again, with 13 below it). That’s the end of the single tap era for this step.
You now have to tap multiple times on 13 until a clock appears.
Move the hands of the clock to 1 o’clock (1300 hrs, right? The 13 angle!), and you get your easter egg – the number 13 surrounded by bubbles. Of course, there is more.
Hold down on the bubbles, and you will see all sorts of images surrounding the number 13, ranging from clocks to hearts to the moon. There are fourteen sets of amazing images to pick from.