Google dropped the first Developer Preview for Android 13 on Thursday, even though we're still waiting on the release of Android 12L. There aren't many new features in the initial Developer Preview, which is par for the course every year until we get to the Beta releases, but there are a few changes worth highlighting — like the new quick settings tiles.

Esper highlighted the changes in DP1 in a blog post, including the new quick settings tile for scanning QR codes, which some manufacturers (such as Samsung) have offered on their versions of Android for years. Even though the button exists in the Android system, the actual scanning functionality does not — tapping on the button calls on an external application defined in the system's "device_config" to open the scanner. This will presumably be Google Lens on most devices (it's disabled out of the box in the current Developer Preview), but it's easy for device makers to swap that with their own scanning apps if needed.

There are also a few other new quick settings tiles in Android 13, though it's not clear yet how many of them will actually show up outside of developer/beta builds. One of the is a tile that displays the currently running foreground services in a popup, which could help developers, as well as tiles for toggling color correction and Android's one-handed mode. The one-handed mode dates back to Android 12, and usually requires a gesture or Settings open to turn on and off.

Android 13 Developer Preview also includes new privacy features (such as an updated photo picker and new Wi-Fi permission), themed icons, language controls, and updated developer tools. Google expects a stable release to be ready sometime in July, with a full release arriving after that. Check out our coverage of Android 13 Developer Preview 1 for more information.