Android 10 was officially released on September 3, 2019, for supported Google Pixel devices, as well as the third-party Essential Phone and Redmi K20 Pro in selected markets.

[13] Beta access was removed from the Huawei Mate 20 Pro on May 21, 2019, due to U.S. government sanctions,[14] but was later restored on May 31.

[17] Google released Beta 5 on July 10, 2019, with the final API 29 SDK as well as the latest optimizations and bug fixes.

[19][20] On August 22, 2019, it was announced that Android Q would be branded solely as "Android 10" with no codename, effectively ending the practice of alphabetically codenaming major releases based on names of confectionary products (including brand names), arguing that this was not inclusive to international users, due either to the aforementioned products not being internationally known or being difficult to pronounce by non-speakers of English.

Additionally, Android VP of engineering Dave Burke noted that most desserts beginning with "q" were "exotic," and that he personally would have chosen queen cake.

He also noted that there were references to "qt"—an abbreviation of quince tart—within internal files and build systems relating to the release.

An API can be used by apps to opt out of handling a back gesture within specific areas of the screen, a sensitivity control was added for adjusting the size of the target area to activate the gesture, and Google later stated that the drawer widget would support being "peeked" by long-pressing near the edge of the screen, and then swiped open.

However, they must not be enabled by default, they must be listed in a separate area one level deeper than other navigation settings, and they cannot be promoted using notifications.

[31] Several major security and privacy changes are present in Android 10: apps can be restricted by users to only having access to location data when they are actively being used in the foreground.

In order to license Google Mobile Services, manufacturers must support these updates for specific modules, while the remainder are marked as "recommended" but optional.

Unlike Direct Share, apps publish their targets in advance and do not have to be polled at runtime, improving performance.

[31] Native support for aptX Adaptive, LHDC, LLAC, CELT and AAC LATM codecs was added as well.