Android 11 beta has a launch date — here’s when it’s coming

On Earth 2 right now, we’d be less than a week away from this year’s Google I/O conference, where we would almost certainly get our first extended look at Android 11. Back here on the real Earth, Google I/O may have been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, but we’re going to get our Android 11 preview very shortly.

Google plans an online look at Android 11 next month, according to info posted on the Android developer website. Spotted by Android Police, the teaser announcement promises an hour-long session going over the changes slated for Android’s next big update. The Android 11 preview will take place June 3 at 11 a.m. EDT/8 a.m PDT.

While the session will almost certainly be geared toward developers — Google is even soliciting questions from Android app makers via Twitter using the #AskAndroid hash tag — we’d expect the Android 11 preview to be a lot like the on-stage demos for Android updates that highlight each year’s Google I/O event. Those previews certainly focus on developer tools, but there’s also plenty of talk about user-facing features coming to Android later in the year.

Even with the coronavirus outbreak wiping Google I/O off the calendar, the company appears to be on track with its Android 11 schedule. Google has already released three developer previews of the Android update since February, with the latest one appearing at the end of April. Those previews are pretty developer-focused, but they’ve given us some sense of features coming to Android 11, including messaging improvements, more refined permissions and other under-the-hood improvements.

The developer previews are really intended for app makers to get their hands on the Android 11 update so that they can get a head start updating apps to take advantage of the new features and spot any problems early in the development process. The preview we’ll see in June is likely to be a more user-facing version of Android 11, with a beta expected to become available around the same time as the June 3 event. That beta won’t be for everyone, but in recent years, Google has made Android betas available to more devices beyond just its Pixel phones.

We’ll continue to stay on top of all the Android 11 news and what features you can expect for your Android phone when the final version of the update comes out toward the end of summer.