Android 16 has already make the last stages of evolution and the net release is just a few weeks away . With this earliest - than - usual number update to Android , Google is focusing mostly on under - the - hood betterment and hardheaded improvements .
WhileAndroid 15focussed petty on visual upgrades bring in secrecy feature , such as partial screen recording and Private Space . This year , too , Google does n’t seem too keen to sharpen much on a radical artistic overhaul .
If you are curious about the update , here is everything you must lie with about Android 16 , including when it will be available , which devices already have it , and which lineament are probable to make it to the final expiration .
Android 16 release date
Google relinquish the Android 16 developer previews and beta calendar month ahead of the common agenda . As such , Android 16 beta 3 is already bouncy , and we have already strain the “ Platform Stability ” point , advise Google is only making net sense of touch - up and restore bugs rather than testing new feature . This period is meant for developer to adapt their apps
Based on the time release timeline , we expect the stable version of Android 16 to arrive sometime after April . Though we do n’t have any official statements , there would n’t be a expert clip than Google ’s yearly developer conference — Google I / O , which will kick off on May 20th this class .
Phones that can download Android 16
At the import , Android 16 is limited to Google ’s own Pixel phones , starting Pixel 6 and raw . Although the list may amplify over the coming weeks , these phones presently support Android 16 genus Beta if you would to assay :
The newly launchedPixel 9ais not officially on the leaning yet , but you should have no problems running the latest version of Android on it .
If you wish to render out the Android 16 beta on your phone , head over tothis inter-group communication , and select the devices you bid to be updated .
The shorter - than - usual window between the tone ending of stable Android 15 and Android 16 builds leave less metre for several upgrades , but there are some noteworthy feature we would see coming to Android this year after all .
Notifications with Live updates
One of the most insightful feature of speech on Android is the support for Live update from apps that deal with clip - tender notifications and update . A premier object lesson is food for thought delivery or cab - hailing apps , which will now show the completeness of your order — or more simply , the meter left to comer — through an animated advancement bar in a dedicated roofing tile on the top of your apprisal and on your ringlet screen door .
The advance bar functionality is already present in iOS ( as Live bodily function ) and has also been implemented by several Android OEMs , including OnePlus . Now , with this change , Google is maltreat up to make this a standard functionality in Android , which have in mind it will be uncommitted on all machine that run Android 16 and above .
Meanwhile , developers have access code to APIs that will enable live tracking provender from their apps to be show through animated ticker . When not consider directly , the selective information will be condensed into diminished pill - shape icons on the status bar , displaying only the most important information , such as the fourth dimension left . Here ’s an example from developer Viktor Mykhailiv :
Besides live trailing of orders from solid food delivery apps or cab inspection and repair , Live update will also exhibit the ETA for a trip in Google Maps when the app itself is minimized . While the factual utility will depend on apps , and many might not support it initially , we can expect large ace like Uber to be onboard soon .
Meanwhile , Google is demonstrate how lively updates will work with the new Android Easter egg , which we will search at later in this article .
Audio Sharing
If there ’s one manner Bluetooth headphones have not been able to correspond up to pumped unity , even the low quality , it ’s the ability to carve up audio into two different headset . And almost a decade after Apple forced the total headphone industry to give up on headphone jacks , Bluetooth earpiece have n’t quite been able to replicate the functionality — besides on a small exercise set of unpopular smartphones .
Google , however , intends to finally fix this with a feature called Audio Sharing , which will barf the audio recording from one duo of Bluetooth earbuds or headphones to another . This basically means that while one person can control the audio playback on their phone , others can join through what Google call an Audio stream .
The lineament relies onAuracast , an audio broadcast medium technology where citizenry can tune in to specific broadcast channel — much like radio — through their Bluetooth headphones . The only essential for Audio Sharing on Android to crop is that the headphone must brook Bluetooth Low Energy ( BLE ) while the phone must plunk for Auracast . As a result , it will work out only on Pixel 8 and new Google devices ( but not Pixel 8a ) . For other Android devices , we will have to await which manufacturers go through support .
In improver to earphones , people with sure other compatible machine , such as hearing aids , will also be able-bodied to join audio streams . But , this will come at the cost of cut audio quality .
Adaptive refresh rate
Most smartphones — at least those run for Android — feature displays with refresh rates beyond 60Hz . But with refresh rates that go up to 120Hz , 144Hz , and sometimes even 165Hz , battery phthisis becomes a great payoff . Another disadvantage is that not all apps operate at the highest rates , which can cause form tearing or jitter in the interface — a term that is usually called “ jank . ”
Some mellow - ending Android equipment bypass this limitation by using LTPO displays that digest variable refresh rates , or multiple variable stride . For illustration , a gamey - end from 2025 would support refresh charge per unit time value such as 1Hz , 10Hz , 24Hz , 30Hz , 48Hz , 60Hz , 72Hz , 90Hz , 120Hz . The show uses a refresh pace that is closest to the capacity that is being expose on the silver screen . That , of course , does not apply to less premium phones which typically only support fewer values , such as 30Hz , 60Hz , and 120Hz .
Even with the most expensive devices , the conclusion of which refresh rate to pick bet on the content played on the filmdom , which can lead to delay , albeit by a few milliseconds . Secondly , most displays are tune up to hunt down different refresh rates at different display color modes — based on how they were calibrate .
To solve this , Google is looking at PC gaming monitors and adding what it calls Adaptive refresh rate deeply in the Android framework . Although the feature of speech was first introduced in Android 15 , it will become more mainstream in Android 16 . The thick desegregation means a display can switch between refresh rates more seamless without change show color manner and allows more apps to take advantage .
In summation to slim down jank , adaptative refresh rate should also better assault and battery life on phones , allowing displays to work at low refresh rates unless necessary .
Haptics tuned to apps
Over the years , Android OEMs have advertised iPhone - like crisp tactile feedback and vibrations . Brands like OnePlus have even been able to achieve it with alert and ringtones on flagship gadget . But beyond that — and a handful of game that exact to fend for “ 4D oscillation , ” the topic has largely been ignored .
So , with Android 16 , Google is adding richer ascendence for developer to integrate in their apps where they can depute unlike oscillation patterns to dissimilar actions . Google says the newfangled haptic genus Apis will allow developers “ define the bountifulness and frequency curve of a haptic effect ” while denigrate the effect of hardware ( quiver motor ) available on the equipment .
This should leave in better tuned haptic feedback across a people of apps , though the actual espousal lie with developers .
New Easter egg
Among the major substance abuser - present change coming to Android 16 is its mightily overtake Easter egg , a tradition which Android has carried on since the first . With Android 16 , the starship Easter ball that rise in Android 14 reaches a ostensibly more action form .
Much like Android 14 and 15 , the Easter eggs has a small game where you’re able to float around in the distance and recover other ethereal body . With Android 16 , there are on the face of it more celestial physical structure to find and even land on . Google has also summate an automatic pilot mode , so you could simply value its crusade rather than crib about how awfully baffling the guidance control find at first .
When you down on a planet , a tiny victory flag is lift . And when the starship takes off , there ’s a attack - off animation where the vessel ricochet up from the control surface where you had antecedently landed . If you were hoping to tally a winnings , there are n’t any checkpoints — not the ones we spot .
But unlike any late generations , you’re able to minimize the Easter bollock and leap back into legal action afterwards by tapping the persistent notification .
As mentioned above , this floating notification is intend to exemplify the utility of the Live update sport we talk over above . It displays your progress en route to your next finish , register the remain distance and ETA . However , you will have to start afresh if you cabbage the apprisal away .
Camera controls
Google is making several under - the - hood change to photographic camera algorithm in Android , and the welfare may not be determine just to its own Pixel card .
First , it is bringing Hybrid exposure , which will tolerate you to specifically enlighten or darken parts of a photo while letting auto - photo take care of the ease of the frame of reference . Apps will have control that compound ISO with auto - exposure or exposure time and auto - exposure , let greater tractableness on the amount of brightness in the image . And these features will not just be limit to the Camera app on your phone but also put out to apps such as Instagram and Snapchat .
2nd , video recording apps will have finer controls over hue and color temperature separately while show videos instead of just playing with blank balance . This will countenance for video transcription with more accurate colors .
Third , Google is also allowing third - paty apps such as Instagram and Snapchat to make use of the phones ’ built-in night modes for effective low-spirited - light picture .
Lastly , there are advance to gesture photos and will allow HEIC format photograph to keep back their HDR metadata through UltraHDR support .
Advanced Professional Video (APV) recording
Video recording on Android 16 is get yet another cost increase in the form of added support for APV 422 - 10 Profile . APV or Advanced Professional Video is a codec that supports 10 - snatch encoding and video bitrates up to 2Gbps for “ perceptually lossless ” video quality while go through 20 % less space than other professional video codecs like HEVC .
A place to store your health records
Google has open up backup to store your wellness records and make them readable to other apps . you could hive away medical record in FHIR format and then make them accessible to other apps using Health Connect — a system app that allow you share fitness and natural process related information across apps .
That mean you may receive your digital wellness records from one app — say the one your hospital uses — and portion out them with another app , such as a diagnostics app or one that may be used to augur cancer .
Ambient mode for BLE hearing aids
Android 16 bring functionality where volume of hearing acquired immune deficiency syndrome with Bluetooth Low Energy ( BLE ) will be mechanically adjust base on the ambient noise layer . This means the volume on hearing assist will automatically decrease in loud situation or increase when it ’s quiet .
In improver , Android 16 will also be able to trade the input source between the mike on the hearing aids and the phone during vocalisation calls . This will be ready to hand in noisy environments when hear aids ’ mike may not get wind sufficiently .
Desktop mode
For a few coevals of Android , Google has been brew a aboriginal Desktop way or a Chrome osmium - corresponding interface that will be projected onto a bad screen when you unite your phone . Samsung already does this with DeX , but Google want to make it standard across all phones .
While there have been significant advancements this year , including ascreen recording feature exclusively for the external monitor , to suggest Google may finally let go of it , this does n’t seem to be the case . We trust to see more maturation in this regard over the issue forth month leading up to Android 17 ’s developer preview , which might come later this class . But we would n’t be surprised if Google decides to give us a glance of it during Google I / O in May this year .
