Android O is the latest version of the Android OS, and you can only access it as Developer Previews for now. However, we already know that it is planning to bring a slew of changes for everybody. The developer previews that were released until now give game and app developers the freedom to play with the changes found on the new platform. Moreover, they have to adapt the software to the changes if they want to test out the improvements.
How Do You Know About It?
Google has published a blog post where they detail some of the improvements they plan to bring together with the Android O. One of the main things they focused on is the user control over the identifiers. With the new O, there is a different Android ID for each app and each user on a particular device.
As long as the package name and the signing keys are the same, the ANDROID_ID value remains the same even if you uninstall and reinstall the package. The ID will only change if you perform a factory reset on the device or if you change the signing keys.
The team advises the developers who need a device-scoped identifier to make use of a resettable identifier. One such example is the Advertising ID, which allows users to have more control, offering a setting that limits ad tracking.
Besides, Android O will bring a new API that comes in place of the old Android.os.Build.SERIAL. The software brings a randomization system dedicated to the MAC address, which is useful for randomizing Wi-Fi scan traffic. The changes were performed for the CPU found on Google Pixel, plus the Nexus 5X. As such, any other device that runs on the same configuration can take advantage of the Android O changes.
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