Android Q Beta 5 Rollout Resumes for Google Pixel Phones After Brief Halt

After a brief halt, Google has now resumed the Android Q Beta 5 rollout. The update is designed for testing purposes and is available as an over-the-air (OTA) package for all Pixel phones. It brings the final Android Q developer APIs (API level 29) as well as a list of updates to the gesture navigation system, including the corner-in swipe gesture to activate Google Assistant and a new "peek" behaviour specifically for the back gesture. Notably, Google originally released Android Q Beta 5 for compatible hardware on Wednesday, but it pulled the update due to an installation issue.

"Thank you for your patience as we investigate the issue, which is putting a very small percentage of devices back on Beta 4 after multiple reboots. We have now resumed the Beta 5 OTA rollout," Google said in an update to its Reddit post announcing the Android Q Beta 5 rollout.

It is unclear whether Google has considered any fix before resuming the Android Q Beta 5 rollout since it mentioned that the problem has affected a "very small percentage of devices." However, the updated Reddit post recommends beta testers to capture a bug report and provide their feedback through the Android Beta Feedback app to help the team diagnose such issues in the future.

How to download Android Q Beta 5

Android Q Beta 5 is available for the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 3a XL. The users who are already participating in the Android Q Beta programme and are on Android Q Beta 4 can install the latest update simply by going to Settings > System > Advanced > System updates.

Downloadable system images of Android Q Beta 5 are also available for all Pixel smartphones. Furthermore, new users can enrol for the Android Q Beta programme to download the new release.

New features in Android Q Beta 5

As per the official changelog that Google had released alongside its original rollout earlier this week, Android Q Beta 5 brings the corner-in swipe gesture to activate Google Assistant. There are indicators at the bottom corners to perform the swipe gesture.

The new Android Q beta build also includes the peek behaviour that works with the navigation drawer to indicate that a swipe will bring in the drawer. The behaviour makes the back gesture work better specifically with the apps that use slide-out navigation drawers.

For app developers, Android Q Beta 5 is bundled with the latest APIs and recommended features list that include interaction notifications, biometric authentication via BiometricPrompt, audio playback capture for enrich recording, and AVI codecs for video streaming as well as HDR10+ for high dynamic range video.

Importantly, Android Q Beta 5 also includes some known issues that have been detailed in the official release notes. The issue list includes odd behaviour with dark mode and a Google Play bug that displays an update dialogue when launching the app for the first time.

The Android Q Beta 5 update brings software build number QPP5.190530.014. Moreover, it also includes the July Android security patch.