You can now go 64-bit-only on your Google Pixel phone
TheGoogle Pixel 7 Proand its smaller sibling are the first Pixel phones to be released with 64-bit app support only. While this meant that some apps were no longer available on the new series, the move was mostly painless since almost all modern apps on the Play Store support 64-bit architectures these days. With this successful rollout behind it, Google now allows you to optionally flash a 64-bit beta build on all Pixel phones through the Pixel 4a through the Pixel 6 series.
The new 64-bit-only images are available alongside the other Android 13 Quarterly Platform Release 1 betas on theAndroid Developers website. In contrast to the regular Android 13 QPR program, you can’t join it via an over-the-air update — instead, you’ll have to manually flash the 64-bit builds. Google makes clear that these “images provide a strict 64-bit-only environment for testing 64-bit app compatibility. These 64-bit-only configurations are for developer use only.”
As an enthusiast, you might want to steer away from these builds, especially as they won’t change much about your experience with your phone. AsEsper.io Android expert Mishaal Rahman notes, the builds come with a marginally smaller system partition size (about 120MB savings in total) by stripping out all 32-bit system libraries, which might just be all you notice in regular usage. Interestingly, the 64-bit only builds for the Pixel 4a through the Pixel 6 get rid of all traces of 32-bit. The Pixel 7 series still comes with 32-bit libraries, even if they aren’t used on the phones.
If you do want to give the 64-bit builds a try, you can easily flash them over your existing Android 13 QPR1 beta build, confirmed by Mishaal Rahman to be safe to do. Otherwise, you might not have to wait too long for the 64-bit option to become a reality for everyone. After all, Google doesn’t just test these builds willy-nilly, and it’s likely that the company plans to make the switch for everyone sooner or later.
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