ASUS ZenFone 6 ready to receive Android 11 beta update

The ASUS ZenFone 6 isn’t exactly an old phone so we’re not really surprised that it’s getting Android 11. It’s not the final version yet but from beta it will be quick to reach the public version. As the first Android 11 beta update for the ZenFone 6, we don’t expect this to be perfect but it should be good enough for a phone that is less than two years old. Our last mention of this device was in November last year when the Android 10 OS was made available.

The Android 11 beta program was actually opened last month. There is no timeline provided by the Taiwanese OEM but we’re crossing our fingers the major OS upgrade will be ready for wider release by November or just before the end of the year.

Specifically, the beta build is known as 18.0610.2009.37. It brings changes to the ZenUI skin plus most of Android 11 features and enhancements we know. Expect third-party launchers to get gesture navigation. Unfortunately, some functions have been removed like support for icon pack and smart grouping.

ASUS’ PowerMaster module has been integrated with the phone’s Battery settings. This move aims to avoid redundancy. You may notice that some other 3rd-party apps are not compatible with Android 11 OS. ZenUI Help and Private Listening have been removed, as well as, Avast scanning engine.

With Android 11, organizing app icons across screens after tapping an empty area is now allowed. You can now keep the Bluetooth connection even when you activate the airplane mode. Android 11 also adds Bubbles settings and Notification history.

If you have signed up for the beta program, you will need to download the OS update. Make sure you at least 1.3GB of free memory on the ASUS ZenFone 6.