Android 13’s squiggly media player dances to the music with you
Android 13 Beta 1is out today, and while it looks like this year’s OS update won’t be the same sort of all-out reinvention that Android received last year, there’s a whole host of minor UI changes coming our way. Google’s already made sometweaks to the built-in media playerin recent developer previews, and today’s release adds a fun splash of motion to the playback bar.
In Beta 1, the media player found in the notification tray now sports a squiggly animation as the dot makes its way across the track. The unplayed portion of a file remains a straight line, but once the current playback dot makes its way across the bar, the line flows up and down like an audio waveform. Unfortunately, it doesn’t match the tempo of whatever you’re listening to, though it does stop moving if you pause the track. It also shows up on the lock screen player UI.

It’s a small change, but one that every user is bound to see once they’ve upgraded toAndroid 13’s stable release later this year. If you’re unwilling to wait, you canopt into the Android Beta Programto check out the latest features for yourself.
Expanded dark theme is here
![]()
Google now flags battery-hogging watch faces
I’m coming for you, Fitbit

Navigate through galaxies of customization with Samsung’s One UI Home
It’s AI, but how it should be used
![]()
Not yet, anyway
