Google Drive's Android beta opens up, but you'll need to move fast

Google runs a beta program for most of its important Android apps on the Google Play Store. They are a great way for early adopters and power users to try out new features and changes before they are rolled out to the public. The company is now showering the same beta love on the official Google Drive Android app.

If you head over to the Google Drive listing on the Play Store, you will see the option to join the beta under the App support section. Slots are limited, so if you are willing to test upcoming new features in the Google Drive Android app, enroll in the beta program right away.

The process can take a few minutes to complete. A Google Drive update may immediately appear on your phone after that, though I didn't find any new features or changes in that build.

A test drive of what’s next

This is just the beginning, though. Google should use the beta program to roll out upcoming new features and improvements to Google Drive beta testers through the Play Store first, before making them available to the public.

On the flip side, don't be surprised if you run into bugs or issues after installing a beta build. And as with everything Google does, there's no guarantee that once you enroll in the beta program, you will get new Google Drive features to test.

Leaving the beta program is easy, too. You just need to tap the Leave button from the Google Drive listing on the Play Store. Joining is the difficult part, as slots are limited. Once that fills up, you must wait for someone to leave the beta to get your turn.

Google has been adding new features to the Drive Android app. In May this year, it added the ability to scan multiple pages at once, making multi-page document scanning a breeze. More importantly, it's even smart enough not to scan the same page twice.

Google may be opening up the beta program after all these years because it plans to bring more such improvements to Drive's Android app.