As per Esper.io’s Mishaal Rahman (via Android Police), the new permission changes will only cover applications that target API level 33 (Android 13). Apps that target this API level cannot post notifications unless it holds the new android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS permission. This particular permission contains a protection level of “dangerous,” so apps are required to issue a runtime prompt to get the user’s permission.
App developers are currently required to target Android 11 (API level 30)
This matters because the Google Play Store requires developers to meet a minimum SDK API level target before publishing their apps. Google now instructs developers to target at least API level 30 or Android 11. With each passing year, the required API level goes up, and developers have to adjust accordingly. Since the new runtime permissions on Android 13 will only be mandatory with API level 33, it seems like users would have to wait a couple of years before seeing this feature take full effect across Android. This means that apps that target API level 32 or lower won’t have to adhere to the new permission changes. Meanwhile, this is good news for developers as they won’t have to implement these changes for at least a year. In other news, the first developer preview of Android 13 is out. We now have a good idea about the features coming to Google’s upcoming mobile operating system. We’ll learn more about the new software as the next dev previews are available in the coming months. Android 13 is also getting a QR code scanner on the lock screen, enabled through a dedicated toggle within Settings. Google could offer a tile inside Quick Settings to enable this feature. The software will arrive during fall this year, most likely with a new lineup of Pixel smartphones. But we have to go through a few phases of dev previews and beta releases before that happens.
