Android 11: conversations, bubbles, and making sense of complexity

The Android 11 beta is available now for Pixel phone

Today, Google is releasing the Android 11 beta for Pixel phones. It features a revamped notification system, a new power menu, and dozens of smaller tweaks. I’ve been using an early version of it provided to me by Google on my Pixel 4 XL for about a week now, and I’m already depending on some of its new features.

Android is a “mature” operating system, which is to say there aren’t a lot of obvious missing features. You might say that mature smartphone operating systems like Android and iOS have the opposite problem: too many features. So Android 11 doesn’t add a lot of new capabilities; instead, it tries to help you handle all of the things your phone already does. The job of a mature operating system is to manage complexity.

The major features in the Android 11 beta

Conversations: The notification shade now breaks out messages from your texting apps into their own section at the top
Priority conversations: You can mark certain conversations as “priority,” which puts the sender’s avatar on your lock screen and optionally allows you to let them break through your Do Not Disturb settings
Bubbles: You can have your texting threads pop out into a little bubble that floats over your other apps. It works just like Chat Heads for Facebook Messenger but is now available to any texting app.
Notifications have simpler, easier-to-understand presets for “Alerting notifications” and “Silent notifications” and allow you more control over how those presets work
Do Not Disturb lets you customize which apps or people are allowed to notify you when the mode is on
Media controls have been moved up into quick settings, and you can select where your audio output goes now
Screenshots now appear on the lower-left corner, just like they do on the iPhone
Native screen recording should finally become an official, Android-level feature
The power menu now serves as a kind of digital wallet, with controls for powering your phone, Google Pay cards and passes, and now smart home control
The recents screen now has new buttons for taking a screenshot, sharing a screenshot, or selecting text
You can replace your dock with suggested apps (but why would you, really?)
There’s a new one-time permission option for location
If you don’t use an app for a while, its permissions reset automatically
Voice Access, the accessibility feature that allows you to control your phone by speaking, has been upgraded and can now understand “screen content and context, and generates labels and access points for accessibility commands.”