[Google Pixel Update📱] Android 16 QPR2 Beta 3.3 now available!

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Google is working on a significant revamp of Android’s notification and Quick Settings panels for Android 16.
• The new design for both panels doesn’t take up the entire screen, which is nice.
• However, accessing the Quick Settings panel now requires swiping down with two fingers, which could be controversial.

Google just released the source code of Android 15 the other day, giving developers the opportunity to peek behind the curtains to see how all the new platform features work. Not every feature that Google worked on this past year was completed in time for Android 15’s release, which means we won’t see those changes until one of the upcoming quarterly platform releases or next year’s Android 16 update at the earliest. One of those changes is a total redesign of Android’s notification and Quick Settings panels.

The current design for Android’s notification and Quick Settings panels debuted in 2021’s Android 12 update, which is when Google introduced its Material You design language. In the current layout, the notification and Quick Settings panels are unified. Pulling down the status bar once shows the first four Quick Settings tiles as well as the entire notifications panel. Pulling it down again shows the entire Quick Settings panel plus a few notifications. This is how Android — at least the stock version of it as seen in AOSP — has handled notifications and Quick Settings for years now.

However, that’s not how many forks of Android handle these two panels. HyperOS, for instance, has separate panels for notifications and Quick Settings, which Xiaomi says an overwhelming majority of its users prefer. Separating the notifications and Quick Settings panels allows the former to show more notifications and the latter to show more tiles and buttons, but it’s not a design choice that everyone appreciates, which is why rumors that Samsung and OPPO are going to copy it sparked a lot of online pushback. Well, it seems Samsung and OPPO aren’t the only ones looking to separate the notification and Quick Settings panels, as Google is testing a new dual shade design for Android 16.

While tinkering with the latest Android 15 QPR beta, I managed to activate a new version of the notification and Quick Settings panels that I believe is intended for the Android 16 release. Pulling down the status bar once still brings down the notifications panel like before, but the panel now takes up about a quarter of the screen, rather than the entire thing. While you can’t see any Quick Settings tiles anymore in the new notifications dropdown, you can see the app that’s underneath the panel.

Pulling down the status bar a second time no longer brings down the Quick Settings panel. Instead, the Quick Settings panel is accessed by pulling down the status bar with two fingers. This is the change that I expect will be the most controversial, as it requires you to put more effort into accessing your Quick Settings tiles.
After pulling the Quick Settings panel down, you can swipe left or right between pages to see all your tiles. The brightness bar still appears at the top, but now has a text label and shows the brightness level as you adjust it, similar to the new volume sliders in Android 15. Most Quick Settings tiles have been made smaller so more of them can fit on one page, which is a welcome change.

Here’s a video that demonstrates the new notification and Quick Settings panels that I believe Google is working on for Android 16:



One other thing you might have noticed in these screenshots is the red banner in the bottom right corner that says flexi. Flexiglass is the internal codename for the rearchitecting that Google is doing to SystemUI to make it more stable; the company’s applying the principle of separation of concerns to turn each main component of SystemUI into their own standalone experiences called “scenes.”

I don’t know whether Google plans to move forward with this particular design, but it’s evident it’s working on overhauling the notification and Quick Settings panel in a big way. I’m really hoping it ultimately doesn’t make us use two fingers for pulling down the Quick Settings panel, though, because that would be annoying.

 

[limmk]

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• The Android 16 codename is Baklava, a popular puff pastry dessert.
• This might seem strange, considering the Android 14 codename was Upside Down Cake, and the Android 15 one was Vanilla Ice Cream.
• However, the new dessert codename reflects the change in Android’s build process that made Google start the lettering over again.

Although Google hasn’t publicly referred to Android versions by dessert names for a couple of years now, that doesn’t mean it’s stopped using them entirely. In fact, the codename it uses for each new Android version is still based on desserts, such as Vanilla Ice Cream for Android 15. Ever since Google released Android 1.5 with the codename Cupcake back in 2009, the company started a pattern of basing the next version’s codename on a dessert that starts with the following letter in the English alphabet. For example, Android 1.6 was codenamed Donut. However, that pattern might end with next year’s Android 16 update, which might not have a codename that starts with the letter “W.”

Developer teamb58 sent us a tip over the weekend about some interesting code changes he spotted in AOSP. The first change adds code allowing any APEX module that launches with next year’s Android release to be compressed. What’s interesting about the code is how it refers to next year’s Android release. Particularly, the min_sdk_version field is set to Baklava. In contrast, the min_sdk_version field for this year’s release is set to VanillaIceCream.

In another code change, a Google engineer brings up how an additional check should be added to see if the build’s platform SDK codename matches Baklava. The reason they gave is that a previous version of the patch checked if either the SDK version is greater than or equal to 35 — which is the SDK version corresponding to Android 15 — or the platform SDK codename matches VanillaIceCream.

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
During development on a new Android version, Google sets the platform SDK version to the codename until the SDK is finalized, which is why in Android 15 Beta 3 — Android 15’s first Platform Stability milestone — the Android version name was changed to 15 from VanillaIceCream. Since development on Android 16 is underway, the same is true for that release, i.e., early builds will show the platform SDK codename (Baklava) instead of the platform SDK version (36).

So, that’s two pieces of evidence that suggest the Android 16 codename is Baklava. According to a source we spoke with, Baklava has indeed been set as Android 16’s dessert name. If you were expecting the Android 16 codename to reference a dessert that starts with the letter “W,” you’re not alone. Pretty much everyone, myself included, thought this would be the case given prior history.

After all, if you look at the history of Android versions and their codenames, there’s no reason to think that the pattern Google started back in 2009 would end next year, especially since there are still a few more letters left in the English alphabet to base names on.

Version Number	Codename
1.0	No codename
1.1	Petit Four
1.5	Cupcake
1.6	Donut
2.0/2.1	Éclair
2.2	Froyo
2.3	Gingerbread
3.0	Honeycomb
4.0	Ice Cream Sandwich
4.1-4.3	Jelly Bean
4.4	KitKat
5.0/5.1	Lollipop
6.0	Marshmallow
7.0/7.1	Nougat
8.0/8.1	Oreo
9	Pie
10	Quince Tart
11	Red Velvet Cake
12/12L	Snow Cone
13	Tiramisu
14	Upside Down Cake
15	Vanilla Ice Cream

However, if you’ve been following Android platform development news lately, you may have heard of something called the trunk stable project. Without getting too technical, the way that Google develops Android has significantly changed. The first Android version to be released as part of the trunk stable project was Android 14 QPR2 back in March, which is why that release used a very different build ID naming scheme. Instead of having build IDs that started with the letter “U” for Upside Down Cake, Android 14 QPR2 had build IDs that started with the letter “A.”

For example, the build ID for the Pixel Tablet’s March update was AP1A.240305.019.A1. The build ID for the device’s June update based on Android 14 QPR3 was AP2A.240605.024. And the build ID for the device’s upcoming October update based on Android 15 will be something like AP3A.241005.0XX. The Android 15 QPR1 update for the device will be something like AP4A.241205.0XX, assuming it indeed releases in December.

The build IDs for next year’s Android releases, though, will all start with the letter B, so Android 15 QPR2 build IDs will be something like BP1A and so on. That’s why the dessert name Google is going with for Android 16 is Baklava and not something that starts with the letter “W.”
If you’re wondering why Android 15’s codename is Vanilla Ice Cream and not something that starts with the letter “A,” I can’t say for sure. It’s likely because Google had already chosen Vanilla Ice Cream as the internal codename for Android 15 before the first trunk stable release, so it didn’t want to go back and change every mention of the codename, especially since that could break some build flows.

Regardless, I’m sure the idea that Baklava is Android 16’s codename will surprise many of you, but if you dig deeper into why it was chosen, you’ll learn some interesting facts about how Android platform development has dramatically changed in the past few months.

 

[limmk]

Google is planning to release Android 16 before July 2025​

Android 15 hasn’t been released yet; it’s expected to be available for Pixel devices by mid-October. It’s crazy to already be discussing Android 16, but there seems to be a shift happening, as the Android 16 might be released much earlier than expected next year. The full story is below…

Google might release Android 16 in the second quarter of 2025, which is earlier than usual. Typically, major Android updates come out in August, September, or October. For instance, Android 15 could launch this month, and Android 14 arrived last October.

Google has always followed a yearly schedule for Android releases, but now it seems they’re shifting things up. Evidence suggests that Android 16 could debut in April, May, or June of 2025. This is a big change since the last time an Android version was released outside the usual late summer or fall timeframe was back in 2012.
Android 15, once internally known as Vanilla Ice Cream, has had its codename changed, with recent build numbers indicating a shift from V to A. In a similar vein, Android 16 will carry the codename “Baklava,” according to reports, reflecting ongoing updates and changes within Google’s Android development process.
The company’s development process has improved over the years, making it easier to create and roll out new Android versions. Recently, Google switched to a trunk-based development model, allowing them to work on a single main branch of the code, which helps speed things up.

While reviewing the Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) for Android 15, tipster Mishaal Rahman noticed references to “25Q2,” hinting that this might be when Android 16 is scheduled to launch. Google has started using dates to label Android releases internally. For example, Android 15 is referred to as 24Q3, and upcoming updates have similar designations.

Developers have made comments in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) suggesting that major changes are planned for 25Q2, which supports the idea that this is when Android 16 will be released. Comments about new features and API changes indicate that they’re pushing these updates to the next major version, rather than a minor one.

If this guess is right, 25Q2 refers to Android 16, which means we could see it released in June 2025. This would be great news, especially if it aligns with Google I/O. It would also ensure that the next Pixel phones don’t launch with an outdated version of Android, as happened with the Pixel 9 series, which came with Android 14 instead of 15

// androidtrends

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Google is preparing to upgrade multitasking in a big way by letting you put any app in a floating bubble.
• Although this feature isn’t live yet, I managed to enable it in the latest Android 15 QPR1 beta.
• It’s unclear when Android’s ‘bubble anything’ feature will go live, but it could be an Android 16 feature given how major it is.

With the launch of Android 11 in 2020, Google introduced a new feature called the bubbles API that lets messaging apps put conversations in a floating window. The floating window sits on top of other apps so you can quickly see or respond to messages from your favorite contacts. When you’re done chatting, you can minimize the floating window, which turns it into a small, floating icon that you can later tap to restore the window. The bubbles API is a great feature that’s sadly underutilized, but Google is looking to change that in Android 16.

The problem with the bubbles API is that it only works for conversation notifications and can be opted out of, so many apps don’t support it. Even many of the best messaging apps that send out conversation notifications don’t support the bubbles API, requiring you to fully open them to see the complete conversation. That’s unfortunate because the UI that launches within the bubble is just a regular Android activity, so in theory, most Android apps should function just fine when placed in a bubble. Google is now testing that theory out by developing a feature that lets you place any Android app in a floating bubble.

While I was digging through the latest beta for the first quarterly platform release (QPR) of Android 15, I found references to a “bubble anything” feature. With a bit of tinkering, I managed to fully enable “bubble anything” in Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2. Once active, the Pixel Launcher adds a “bubble” button to the context menu that appears when you press and hold on any app on the home screen. Tapping this button opens the app — no matter what it is — in a floating bubble, as you can see below.

Android’s new “bubble anything” feature will definitely improve multitasking on Android phones, especially when combined with the upcoming bubble stashing feature, but I think it’ll make the most impact on Android tablets. That’s because, when you combine it with the bubble bar feature that Google has been working on for tablets, you get a pretty decent multitasking experience even without desktop windowing. Here’s a video demonstrating what Android’s new “bubble anything” feature combined with the bubble bar looks will look like on tablets:



I’m not exactly sure when this “bubble anything” feature will go live, if at all. Given how significantly it changes the multitasking experience, you’d think Google might reserve it for next year’s Android 16 release. However, Google recently rolled out desktop windowing and lock screen widgets on tablets in a seemingly minor QPR beta, so who knows what the company’s plans really are. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out to see if this feature makes the light of day.

 

[Ray1976]

LoL...we haven't seen Android 15 rolled out to all android based phones yet and Android 16 is already expected to make an appearance by 2nd Qtr of next year?

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• We have more details on Google’s efforts to revamp the Do Not Disturb mode in next year’s Android 16 update.
• In the latest Android beta, we’ve discovered that the in-development feature is no longer called Priority Modes but instead just Modes.
• In addition, we’ve discovered that Android will display the individual icon for any Modes you enable on the status bar, lock screen, and AOD.

Development on the next major release of Android, ie. Android 16, is well underway, but since we’re more than half a year away from its stable release, a lot of its new features aren’t ready yet. However, we can get a glimpse at some of Android 16’s new features by poking around in the Android beta releases that Google pushes out. Following the release of yet another new Android beta earlier today, we managed to uncover even more details on one of the biggest new features in Android 16: Modes.

Modes is the new name of the Priority Modes feature that we thoroughly documented earlier this month. This upcoming feature is basically a supercharged version of Android’s Do Not Disturb mode. The reason the Do Not Disturb mode needs to be overhauled is that it’s pretty limited right now. You can either activate it manually or set it to activate between certain times or during certain calendar events from a specific calendar. If you want to set multiple schedules based on other times or calendars, though, then you have to modify the mode every single time. You can’t just create another copy of Do Not Disturb mode with its own settings. That’s what the new Modes feature in Android 16 will solve, thankfully.

In Android 16, you’ll be able to create many different modes, each with their own name, icon, activation trigger, display settings, and notification settings. You can manually toggle modes from either the Settings app or from a new Quick Settings tile that Google is working on. Our previous report on Android 16’s new Modes feature, which again used to be called Priority Modes, not only showed off the UI for creating new modes but also how to toggle them, in case you’re interested.

With the release of Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 earlier today, we noticed that not only did Google rebrand Priority Modes to just Modes as we mentioned earlier but it also updated the OS to show an icon in the status bar, lock screen, and AOD that corresponds to the current mode that’s enabled. This will make it easier to tell at a glance what mode is currently enabled.

In Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3, Google also slightly tweaked the UI for the dialog that appears when you tap the Quick Settings tile. Modes are now displayed in a single-column, vertically scrolling list instead of a dual-column list. I personally prefer the old dual-column list since it makes better use of available space, but perhaps Google switched to a single-column list to leave space for more information to be added, such as a short description for each mode.

Another small tweak is that the Quick Settings tile itself now displays the icon of the first mode that you enable. It also shows the name of the first mode but switches to saying the number of modes active if more than one is enabled. Speaking of which, if you ever have more than one mode enabled, then only the first one’s icon will appear on the status bar, lock screen, and AOD.

In its current state, the Modes feature lets you choose from over 40 unique icons, but that number could grow before Android 16’s release. I don’t know if Google plans to let you use your own icon, but I’m starting to doubt it will for stability reasons. Even if you can’t pick your own icon, the 40 existing ones are pretty broad and distinct from one another, so you shouldn’t have any issues finding the right icon for your custom mode.

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Google may introduce a new API that lets apps create Rich Ongoing Notifications in Android 16.
• Rich Ongoing Notifications will appear as chips in the status bar.
• The feature seems somewhat like Apple’s Dynamic Island on iPhones, though technically Android used status bar chips in the past.

Notifications are one of the most important features of any operating system, especially mobile ones like Android where most apps aren’t always running. That’s why Google is constantly tinkering with notifications to make them more useful, less distracting, or both. In recent releases of Android, for example, Google made every notification dismissible, minimized heads-up notifications while displaying videos, and blocked old notifications. Next year’s Android 16 update could introduce even bigger changes to notifications on Android by letting apps create Rich Ongoing Notifications.

From what I’ve managed to glean from the latest Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 release, Rich Ongoing Notifications is a new API that lets apps show more than just an icon in the status bar. The API will let apps create chips with their own text and background color that live in the status bar, sort of like the new screen recording chips that Google introduced in the previous Android beta update. It’s likely that tapping these chips will open some sort of dialog provided by the app that shows more information about the ongoing notification, which is, again, similar to the new screen recording system that Google just rolled out.

Google is still working on the Rich Ongoing Notifications API, so there are a lot of details I don’t know about just yet. Since the API isn’t available to Android apps at the moment, I can’t fully demonstrate what Rich Ongoing Notifications will be like. However, Google created a command-line interface so it can prototype what Rich Ongoing Notifications will look like when created by different apps. Using some hidden commands, I was able to create some mock Rich Ongoing Notifications that showed whatever app icon, text, and background color I wanted.

For example, here’s a gallery that shows what the Rich Ongoing Notifications API could be used for in Android 16. I created a mock notification from the Google Clock that says an alarm is about to go off in 10 minutes, a mock notification from the Uber app that says my ride will arrive in 5 minutes, and a mock notification from the United Airlines app that says my flight will board in 9 minutes. As you can see, there’s potentially a lot that Android apps can do with Android 16’s Rich Ongoing Notifications API.

I know what many of you are thinking — Google is just copying the iPhone’s Dynamic Island feature. While it’s possible that Google was inspired by Apple to work on the Rich Ongoing Notifications API, it’s also important to note that status bar chips aren’t new to Android and in fact predate Apple’s Dynamic Island feature. Android 12 added an API that lets dialer apps show the duration of an ongoing call in a status bar chip a full year before Apple introduced its Dynamic Island feature.



Android 16 opening up status bar chips to all apps would be a major expansion of the feature. It’s probably true that this expansion was inspired by Dynamic Island, but it wouldn’t be fair to call Rich Ongoing Notifications itself a clone. My feelings on the feature might change as it evolves, though, since it’s clearly not finished yet. We’re still months away from the potential Android 16 release date, so there’s still a lot of time for Google to make changes. The reason I think Rich Ongoing Notifications will be an Android 16 feature is because it’s tied to a new API and the current release of Android — Android 15 — has already reached Platform Stability.

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Toggling your phone’s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio may only require a single tap in Android 16.
• As part of the overhauled Quick Settings panel, the Internet and Bluetooth tiles may be updated to support toggling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with a single tap.
• Since Android 12, toggling Wi-Fi required two taps, and the same has been true for Bluetooth since Android 14 QPR2.

The entire reason that Android has a Quick Settings panel is to make it easy to quickly turn certain features on or off, but some features are easier than others to toggle through Quick Settings. For example, toggling your phone’s flashlight requires a single tap, whereas toggling its Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio requires two taps. It wasn’t always this way, though, as older versions of Android only required a single tap for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Fortunately, next year’s Android 16 update could turn Wi-Fi and Bluetooth into one-click toggles once again.

One of the biggest changes in 2021’s Android 12 release was its redesigned Quick Settings panel, which swapped smaller toggles with larger, rounded, rectangular buttons. Although most of the tiles worked like before in that they were single-click toggles, the old Wi-Fi and mobile data tiles were replaced with a new “Internet” tile that always opened a panel when tapped. The toggles for Wi-Fi and mobile data were moved to this panel, making it two taps to toggle either radio.

Although the one-click nature of the Bluetooth tile wasn’t changed with the Android 12 release, it was eventually changed with the second quarterly platform release of Android 14 that Google rolled out earlier this year. In Android 14 QPR2, the Bluetooth tile was also reworked so that it would open up into a panel when tapped, making it two taps to toggle Bluetooth.

These changes, in my opinion, are for the better, since the Internet and Bluetooth panels make it easy to switch between networks or Bluetooth devices. However, these changes weren’t appreciated by some people who found it annoying that Google made it harder to turn off Wi-Fi, mobile data, and Bluetooth. These complaints were so fervent, in fact, that it made Google put out a blog post defending its decision to introduce the new Internet tile.

The company clearly had good intentions when making the Internet and Bluetooth panels, but it’s understandable that users who frequently toggle Wi-Fi, mobile data, and Bluetooth are annoyed by having an extra tap where they used to only need one. Android 16 may have found a solution that satisfies everyone, thankfully.
In recent weeks, we’ve been sharing our findings regarding Google’s efforts to overhaul the notifications and Quick Settings panels in Android 16. In our most recent post that documents how Google may let you resize Quick Settings tiles in Android 16, one of our astute readers noticed something that I had missed: the background of the Internet and Bluetooth tiles wasn’t fully filled in like all the rest. In fact, only a small portion around the icons was filled in, suggesting that tapping the icon would toggle the respective radio while tapping the rest of the tile would open the panel.

After this was brought to my attention, I immediately tested it and confirmed the Internet and Bluetooth tiles now worked this way. Tapping the icon for Internet toggled Wi-Fi, whereas tapping the icon for Bluetooth toggled Bluetooth. Meanwhile, tapping anywhere on the rest of the Internet or Bluetooth tile opened their respective panels. In hindsight, it should have been obvious to me that this would be the case, given that you’d expect the resized, 1×1 versions of the Internet and Bluetooth tiles to simply be toggles.



I think these changes are a great compromise, and I hope they make their way to Android 16 next year. They give us the best of both worlds: a one-click toggle and access to an expanded panel in a single tile. You still have to expand the Internet panel to toggle mobile data, but you can simply tap the airplane mode tile instead if you want to shut down mobile data. I doubt Google will split Wi-Fi and mobile data into their own respective Quick Settings toggles once again, so if you really want that, you can look into some third-party apps or use a phone from an OEM like Xiaomi where these toggles still exist.

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Android 16 may let you resize Quick Settings tiles, according to evidence we discovered in the latest Android beta.
• You’ll be able to resize any Quick Settings tiles, though they can only be either 1×1 or 2×1 in size.
• This resizable Quick Settings tiles feature seems to be part of the overhauled Quick Settings panel that Google is working on for Android 16.

Last month, we reported that Google is working on a major overhaul of Android’s Quick Settings panel for next year’s Android 16 update. From what we managed to enable, it looks like Google wants Android to show more notifications and Quick Settings tiles on screen, and the best way to do that is to split the notifications and Quick Settings panels into two separate pages. However, there’s another way to fit more Quick Settings tiles on screen, and that’s by making them resizable, which is something that Google is seemingly working on for Android 16.

While I was digging through the latest Android beta update that Google released earlier this week, I found that Google had made more progress on overhauling Android’s Quick Settings panel. I discovered that Google had made some categories to better organize your Quick Settings tiles, a change that will make it easier to find the right Quick Settings tile you want to add to the panel. Shortly after that discovery, though, I found an even bigger change: Quick Settings tiles were now resizable!

To be clear, Quick Settings tiles aren’t resizable by default in the most recent Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 release, so don’t bother trying to resize them on your Pixel. However, if you enable the in-development Quick Settings panel in Beta 3, then they are resizable. All you have to do to resize them is to tap on any tile while in the editor view and then drag the dot left or right to shrink or expand it. Tiles can be either 1×1 or 2×1 in size, allowing you to fit as little as 8 or as many as 16 tiles in a single page. You can resize any tile, even ones provided by third-party apps, though obviously not every tile will have a useful description when it’s expanded.

For comparison, here’s an image that shows the default Quick Settings layout in Android 15 vs Android 16:

And here’s an image that shows some more Quick Settings panel layouts you’ll be able to make thanks to this feature:

Lastly, here’s a short video that demonstrates how you’ll be able to resize Quick Settings tiles in Android 16:



Personally, I’m not a fan of 1×1 tiles that don’t have a label, but I can understand why many might prefer them. They take up a lot less space on screen, so you can fit a lot more of them on a single page in the Quick Settings panel.

One thing that isn’t clear to me is why the new Quick Settings panel doesn’t take up the entire screen considering it no longer has to leave room for any notifications. It’s possible that will change, though, especially as we’re still quite a ways off from Android 16’s expected release date, meaning there’s plenty of time for Google to make changes to its plans for Android’s new Quick Settings panel. That could include scrapping this new resizable Quick Settings tile feature entirely, too, by the way, but we’ll keep an eye out to see if that happens.

 

[limmk]

TL;DR

• Google announced that the next major version of Android (Android 16) will be released in Q2 of 2025, which is several months earlier than usual.
• Google’s VP and GM of the Android Platform told me in an interview how the company was able to move the release forward by so much.
• The Android trunk stable project gave Google confidence that it could roll out updates faster and more frequently without breaking things.

The Android release schedule is undergoing major changes next year. Instead of rolling out the next major release of Android in August, September, or October of 2025, Google has announced that it will release Android 16 sometime in Q2 of 2025. That’s not all, though, as Google also announced that it will introduce a minor release with new developer APIs in Q4 of 2025. This is all part of Google’s plan to speed up Android’s release schedule so it better aligns with new device launches and brings new APIs to apps more quickly, but in order to accomplish this, Google had to make some major changes to the way it develops Android. Here’s why Google is moving up Android 16’s release date, as well as how it did it.

How Android’s current release schedule slows down new API rollouts​

Although Google only pushes out a single major release of Android every year, it also pushes out three more minor updates known as quarterly platform releases (QPRs).
You’re probably familiar with these QPRs by now, as Google has been continuously running beta programs for them for the past few years. In fact, there’s one running right now for the first QPR of Android 15. These QPR beta programs have been successful in letting Google fix bugs and roll out new features more quickly, but they haven’t really done anything for app developers.

That’s because QPRs generally do not include any changes that matter to app developers, as they’re updates on top of an Android release that has already reached ‘Platform Stability.’ When a version of Android reaches Platform Stability, its app-impacting system behaviors and APIs are frozen, meaning they can’t be changed unless the SDK version is incremented. Android 15, for example, reached its Platform Stability milestone with Beta 3’s release in June. That means that every upcoming QPR of Android 15 will only include bug fixes and new user features but not anything that impacts how Android apps behave or what they can do.

There are exceptions to this, though. Android 12L was the second QPR of Android 12, and it introduced new APIs. Before that, there was Android 8.1, which was the first QPR of Android 8. These kinds of minor releases have been rare, though, which means that if there’s some new API that Google wants to introduce, it either has to wait until the next major release to do so or find some way to roll it out outside of the OS like through Project Mainline or Google Play Services updates.

However, with how fast new technologies like generative AI are advancing, Google wants to bring new APIs — especially new APIs for AI functionality — in front of apps more quickly.

To do that, Google is not only releasing Android 16 earlier than usual next year but also speeding up Android’s SDK release schedule by making the QPR it plans to roll out in Q4 of 2025 into a minor release with new APIs.
Part of the reason why Google rarely rolled out minor releases with new APIs in the past is that it was difficult to add new functionality without breaking existing things. Solving this problem required Google to change the way it develops new Android features, as Seang Chau, VP and GM of the Android Platform, explained to me during an interview on the Android Faithful podcast.

How the trunk stable project helped Google speed up Android’s release cycle​

Earlier this year, Google switched Android over to what’s called a trunk-based development model, where all of its developers now work off of a single internal branch of code with short-lived branches being spun out when necessary.

In the past, Google would create long-lived branches of code for every new major release or QPR it was working on. When it was done working on these branches, it would merge all this code back to the internal main branch, which sometimes broke things or caused regressions as the features it was working on were only tested against the forked branches.

Under a trunk-based development model, though, all features are tested against the same internal main branch, making it easier to catch regressions before they’re shipped to production.
Since all the code is now in one branch, Google created a new internal flagging system called aconfig (Android Config) to control the availability of everything from new features to new APIs and even bug fixes.

The changes that Google made to Android as a result of moving over to this trunk-based development model and aconfig flagging system are why I was able to first demonstrate Private Space on an Android 14 beta release even though you probably know it as an Android 15 feature. Ever since the first Android release under this new development model — which was Android 14 QPR2 — the only thing separating QPRs from major releases is what flags were used to build them and what flags are enabled, as the underlying codebase is now the same.

Seang told me that Google’s move to a trunk-based development model for Android gave the company “the confidence to make sure that [it] could add these APIs — these non-breaking APIs — more frequently throughout the year.” This is because, from a development perspective, the model allows Google to build new features in a way that’s high-quality right out the gate. It also lets them “experiment with long-term things, things that might take [them] 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, or a couple of years” and add them to builds “without breaking existing functionality.”

Google is working with its OEM and SoC partners to make sure they stick as closely as possible to this new trunk-based development model so that they have less work cut out for them. The company also told me it’s working with its partners to help them roll out minor releases like the one in Q4 2025, so it’s not just Pixel devices that get them. As an outside observer, it’s clear to me just how impactful the switch to a trunk-based development model has been for the Android team, so I hope that other companies that work with AOSP also adopt this model.

My interview with Seang can be found in the video embedded below. We touched upon the Android 16 release date changes and other Google announcements, such as the accelerated Android release schedule. My coverage of these topics on Android Authority goes more in-depth, of course, but I still recommend giving the interview a listen, as it also brings up some new announcements relevant to app developers.

 

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Google announced today that “Android will have more frequent SDK releases,” while setting a Q2 2025 release date for Android 16, which will soon see a developer preview.

Android SDK releases bring new features that app developers can take advantage of. As of late, this has happened on a yearly basis with the new version of Android (e.g., 14 -> 15).

In 2025, a few things are changing. Instead of that major release happening in Q3, it will take place in Q2 “to better align with the schedule of device launches across our ecosystem, so more devices can get the major release of Android sooner.” (That’s a pretty big sign of the Pixel team sticking with the late summer/August launch period.) Google is “actively working with our device partners to bring the Q2 release to as many devices as possible.”

That is “Android 16,” which Google named today, with the usual “new developer APIs” and “behavior changes that can affect apps.” Google will “soon begin the developer preview and beta program for the Q2 major release,” and tells developers to “stay tuned for more information on the first developer preview of Android 16.” For the past few years, developer previews have arrived in February.

With the major release coming in Q2, you’ll need to do your annual compatibility testing a few months earlier than in previous years to make sure your apps are ready.

Meanwhile, Q4 2025 will see a minor SDK release with “feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes since the major release.” There will be new developer APIs, but it won’t “include any app-impacting behavior changes.”

While “minor releases will not increment the API level,” Google is introducing a “new minor API level value, which will be accessed through a constant that captures both major and minor API levels.” That said, Google is only confirming the major/minor releases schedule for 2025. It remains to be seen what will happen in the future.

A new manifest attribute will allow you to specify a minor API level as the minimum required SDK release for your app. We’ll have an initial version of support for minor API levels in the upcoming Q2 developer preview, so please try building against the SDK and let us know how this works for you.

Q1 and Q3 of 2025 will continue to see incremental Android releases (a.k.a. QPRs) that “provide incremental updates to help ensure continuous quality” and new user-facing features. Google will also continue to offer betas and system images for testing ahead of time.

In all, Google hopes that these changes will “enable faster innovation and a higher level of quality and polish across releases, without introducing more overhead or costs for developers.”

 

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TL;DR

• Google has announced that the next major release of Android, i.e. Android 16, will launch in Q2 of 2025.
• That means Android 16 will be released sometime in April, May, or June of 2025.
• In comparison, the last three major Android releases launched in August, September, or October, meaning Android 16 is coming much earlier than expected.

In a major shift of its release cycle, Google has revealed that Android 16 will be released in Q2 of 2025, confirming my report from late last month. Android 16 is the name of the next major release of the Android operating system, and its release in Q2 marks a significant departure from the norm. Google typically pushes out a new major release of Android in Q3 or Q4, but the company has decided to move next year’s major release up by a few months so more devices will get the update sooner.

Revisiting the history of Android version releases shows just how atypical a Q2 release is for Android. August, September, and October are the three months when Google most commonly pushes out a new major release of Android. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2012 to find an Android version (4.1 Jelly Bean) that wasn’t released during those three months.

Android Version	Code-name	Release Date
Android 16	Baklava	Q2 2025
Android 15	Vanilla Ice Cream	September 3, 2024
Android 14	Upside Down Cake	October 4, 2023
Android 13	Tiramisu	August 15, 2022
Android 12	Snow Cone	October 4, 2021
Android 11	Red Velvet Cake	September 8, 2020
Android 10	Quince Tart	September 3, 2019
Android 9	Pie	August 6, 2018
Android 8.0	Oreo	August 21, 2017
Android 7.0	Nougat	August 22, 2016
Android 6.0	Marshmallow	October 5, 2015
Android 5.0	Lollipop	November 12, 2014
Android 4.4	KitKat	October 31, 2013
Android 4.1	Jelly Bean	July 9, 2012
Android 4.0	Ice Cream Sandwich	October 18, 2011
Android 3.0	Honeycomb	February 22, 2011
Android 2.3	Gingerbread	December 6, 2010
Android 2.2	Froyo	May 20, 2010
Android 2.0	Eclair	October 27, 2009
Android 1.6	Donut	September 15, 2009
Android 1.5	Cupcake	April 27, 2009
Android 1.1	Base11	February 9, 2009
Android 1.0	Base	September 23, 2008

There was nothing ever forcing Google to release major versions of Android in Q3 or Q4 each year, but it’s been the norm for so long that the release cadence just kind of settled in. Of course, Google does need time to plan, implement, and test whatever new features and APIs it wants to include in the next major release of Android. It also needs to leave some time for app developers to try out the new changes and APIs before the public release. However, there’s no technical reason that Google can’t just do more minor releases of Android instead of putting everything into a single big update.

Why is Google releasing Android 16 earlier than usual?​

The main reason Google hasn’t done just that is because it didn’t want to overwhelm app developers and OEMs, both of whom might struggle to keep up with a faster release cycle. Android’s existing yearly release cycle is predictable, which benefits the app developers and OEMs who are most impacted by it, but it’s also problematic for two reasons.

First, it means the best Android phones and the best Android tablets cannot launch earlier than Q3 of any given year. OEMs are not allowed to launch devices running the latest version of Android until that version has been publicly released to AOSP, not even if Google already gave them the source code months prior to the public release.

If an OEM wants to launch a new flagship device before the public release of the next major version of Android, then it has to ship it with the previous version of Android, which is exactly what Google itself was forced to do when it launched the Google Pixel 9 series. That might not even be possible for many OEMs to do since the new flagship chipsets that silicon vendors release each year are only built to support that year’s major release of Android. The Snapdragon 8 Elite and MediaTek Dimensity 9400, for example, launched with support for only Android 15.

The second major issue with Android’s existing yearly release cycle is that it slows down how often Google can push out new framework APIs and fix issues with existing APIs. If Google wants to introduce some new API in the next version that can’t be pushed out via a Project Mainline update or through Google Play Services, then it has to do so before the cutoff happens, which is typically in March. That’s well before most app developers have even had a chance to take a look at the new APIs, leading to situations where they discover a bug that Google can’t push out a fix for until next year’s major release.

When will Android 16 be released?​

For these two reasons, Google wants to not only move up the release date of new major versions of Android but also push out more minor releases of the operating system.
Going forward, Google says that Android will have more frequent SDK releases and that two such releases are planned for 2025: a major release in Q2 (e.g., Android 16) followed by a minor release in Q4 (e.g., Android 16 QPR2). If you want to know more, here’s how exactly these new minor Android releases will work.

Android's 2025 release timeline overview

Moving the major release forward to Q2, as I just mentioned, will let Google “better align with the schedule of device launches across [its] ecosystem, so more devices can get the major release of Android sooner.” This will hopefully mean next year’s Google Pixel 10 series will launch with Android 16 instead of Android 15, for example. The Google Pixel 10 series will, of course, have a lot of exclusive software features that aren’t found in Android 16, but it’s still nice to know what new Android features will be present on the new hardware.

Fortunately, Google says that it will “soon begin the developer preview and beta program for the Q2 major release,” so we won’t have to wait long to see if all the Android 16 features we found so far make it into the release.
Google says to “stay tuned for more information on the first developer preview of Android 16,” which will be announced sometime “soon.” The first developer preview of Android 15 happened in February, but given Android 16’s accelerated release date, it’s possible that Android 16 Developer Preview 1 could be released before the end of this year.

 

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TL;DR

• Google already announced Android 16 will arrive in Q2 2025, and now sources have zeroed-in on a specific date.
• Android 16 could land in just under seven months, on July 3.
• Google would supposedly release AOSP sources and Pixel updates at the same time.

Google’s Android development schedule has been gaining momentum, and just last week, the company confirmed plans to release Android 16 ahead of nearly everyone’s expectations, due for sometime in Q2 of 2025. While that would put it quite a bit earlier from the Q3 releases we’re used to, it also left room for a fair amount of ambiguity — were we talking something as soon as April, or would be settling into summer by the time in landed in June? Google still isn’t saying, but a new report attempts to put a date on its plans.


Android 16 could arrive on June 3, according to sources known to Android Headlines. If you’ll remember, this year we saw Google release Android 15 to the AOSP on September 3, followed by availability of updates for Pixel phones over a month later, on October 15.

Unlike that two-phase availability, this report claims that Google will be ready to hit the ground running with Android 16 on June 3, simultaneously delivering the source to AOSP and releasing updates for Pixel devices. Getting the code on AOSP is the main goal here, putting OEMs in a position where they can commit to the software that will ship with phones destined to arrive later in the year. But immediate access on Pixel phones is just the cherry on top, even if it will mean a seriously abbreviated lifespan for Android 15 on this hardware — not even making it to eight months before this next major update could debut.

Right now, though, it’s probably worth thinking about this date more as a target than a guarantee, especially as we’ve yet to see any corroboration from other sources. Its proximity towards the tail end of Google’s Q2 window makes strong enough sense, but when it comes to the availability of Pixel updates in particular, we wouldn’t be surprised if these plans might change shape a little in the months and months ahead.

 

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TL;DR

• Accessing the Quick Settings panel in Android 16 won’t require swiping down with two fingers as feared.
• Instead, you’ll only have to swipe down with one finger on the right half of the status bar.
• However, there’s still no way to swipe between the notifications and Quick Settings panels, but hopefully Google will fix that.

Back in September, I reported that Google is preparing a huge revamp of the notifications and Quick Settings panels in Android 16 that involved splitting the two panels into separate pages. One of the more controversial aspects of the revamped Quick Settings panel is that you now had to swipe down with two fingers to bring down the panel. Thankfully, though, Google is seemingly dropping this aspect of its Quick Settings redesign, meaning that Android 16 won’t require two fingers to pull down the new Quick Settings panel after all.

While digging through last month’s Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 release, I discovered several upcoming changes to Android’s notification and Quick Settings panels. These include Quick Setting tile categories that will make it easier to find the right Quick Settings tile as well as a resizable Quick Settings tile feature.

That’s not all, though, as I recently discovered that Google changed how the new Quick Settings panel is accessed in Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3. Keep in mind that the new Quick Settings panel is still not enabled by default, so I still had to do a bit of tinkering to enable it. Anyways, I noticed that I’m now able to pull down the new Quick Settings panel by swiping down on the right side of the status bar with a single finger, as opposed to two fingers. Here’s a short video that demonstrates this change:



This is a very simple change that brings Google’s upcoming Quick Settings panel more in line with how other Android OEMs have implemented it. When I first reported on Google’s plan to overhaul the notifications and Quick Settings panels in Android 16, people hated the two-finger swipe down requirement, and for good reason. Having to use two fingers to pull down the Quick Settings panel would have made it really inconvenient to access tiles, but thankfully, it looks like Google has done away with that.

However, Google still hasn’t implemented a way to swipe between the notifications and Quick Settings panels, a feature that other Android-based operating systems like Xiaomi’s HyperOS and OnePlus’ OxygenOS 15 already offer. Hopefully Google works on this feature next, as I think many people will find it annoying that they have to specifically swipe down on one side of the screen to access either the notification or the Quick Settings panel.

While I don’t know exactly when Google will roll out this new design, I’m guessing that it will arrive in the Android 16 release in Q2 of 2025. That’s because many aspects of the new design are still unfinished, such as support for light mode and the various buttons that used to live in the notification/Quick Settings dropdown. If Google does make any further improvements in the upcoming Android 15 QPR2 beta, then I’ll follow up with more articles here on Android Authority.

 

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What we do know is the general release schedule for Android 16, which includes two developer previews and four betas that are expected to roll out as follows:

Date	Release
Today	Android 16 Developer Preview 1
December 2024	Android 16 Developer Preview 2
January 2025	Android 16 Beta 1
February 2025	Android 16 Beta 2
March 2025	Android 16 Beta 3
April 2025	Android 16 Beta 4

Android 16 Beta 3 in March 2025 will mark the operating system’s Platform Stability milestone. When Android 16 reaches Platform Stability, Google assures that subsequent updates to Android 16 won’t change any existing APIs, add new APIs, or modify app-facing system behaviors. The Platform Stability milestone is also when developers will be allowed to release updates to their apps on Google Play to make them target Android 16. For reference, Android 15 reached its Platform Stability milestone with its third beta in June 2024, so again, Android 16 will be ready for users and developers much earlier than usual.

 

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How to install the Android 16 developer preview​

The Android 16 developer preview is not intended to be installed by regular users, which is why Google isn’t making an update available through the Android Beta program. Instead, you’ll have to manually install Android 16 Developer Preview 1 on a compatible Pixel device. Fortunately, Google makes it quite easy to manually install Google Pixel updates through its Flash Tool, so if you need to install DP1 on your Pixel device, you shouldn’t struggle to do so.


A word of caution, though: Just because you can install Android 16 DP1 on your device doesn’t mean you should. Developer preview builds aren’t considered stable (duh), but unlike beta builds, they aren’t tested nearly as thoroughly by Google before release. That means a lot of your favorite apps or features might break as they haven’t been built for the latest version yet.

Furthermore, if you’re currently running Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1 on your Pixel device and want to try Android 16 Developer Preview 1 without wiping your data, you're out of luck. This is because Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1 is technically a newer build than Android 16 DP1, so you can’t install Android 16 DP1 on top of it without wiping your device. Google recommends that you avoid installing the upcoming Android 15 QPR2 Beta 2 release if you want to transition to Android 16 DP2 without wiping your device.

If you’re aware of these caveats and want to proceed with installing Android 16 DP1 on your Pixel device anyways, then you can do so by clicking one of the following links on your PC:

• Google Pixel 6
• Google Pixel 6 Pro
• Google Pixel 6a
• Google Pixel 7
• Google Pixel 7 Pro
• Google Pixel 7a
• Google Pixel Tablet
• Google Pixel Fold
• Google Pixel 8
• Google Pixel 8 Pro
• Google Pixel 8a
• Google Pixel 9
• Google Pixel 9 Pro
• Google Pixel 9 Pro XL
• Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

These links will open the Android Flash Tool page for installing Android 16 DP1, though note that they might take a while to become active — in the meantime, you can manually download the factory images.

Once Android Flash Tool is loaded up, you’ll be prompted to install the Android USB driver if your PC doesn’t already have it. You’ll then need to follow some steps to set up ADB access on your phone so the Android Flash Tool can communicate with it. Then, just connect your device to your PC, select it from the device list, and you should be good to go.

Before you click “install build,” though, be sure to click the pencil to edit the install options. If you don’t want to wipe your device, uncheck “wipe device,” but don't forget that you'll have to perform a full reset if you're flashing on top of Android 15 QPR2. If you don’t want the tool to lock the bootloader, then uncheck “lock bootloader.” If you’re going to install an unstable build like Android 16 DP1, though, I recommend unlocking the bootloader so you can more easily recover from future flashing errors. Once the Android 16 Beta program kicks off next year, though, you can safely lock the bootloader using the tool.

After you manually install the first Android 16 developer preview, you will automatically get future Android 16 updates over-the-air, including the next developer preview and future betas.

Lastly, if you don’t have a compatible Pixel device to install Android 16 DP1 on, then you can still try it out through the Android Emulator in Android Studio. Google recommends installing its latest Android Studio feature drop release (version Ladybug) for the best development experience.

 

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