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

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With the release of Android 16 DP1, Google shared the schedule for the Developer Preview and upcoming Beta.

There are two developer previews, with the only other DP coming in December:

• Developer Preview 1 (November): Early baseline build focused on developer feedback, with some new features, APIs, and behavior changes.
• Developer Preview 2 (December): Incremental update with additional features, APIs, and behavior changes.

The Android 16 Beta will start in January. Platform Stability with “final SDK/NDK APIs and also final internal APIs and app-facing system behaviors” is coming with Beta 3 in March. Afterwards, “you’ll have several months before the official release to do your final testing.”

Beta 4 should be the final release before the public launch. That’s notably a month before Google I/O’s usual timeframe. It’s unclear how Google will announce consumer-facing features this cycle.

• Beta 1 (January): Initial beta-quality release, over-the-air update to early adopters who enroll in Android Beta.
• Beta 2 (February): Incremental Beta-quality release.
• Beta 3 (March): First Platform Stability milestone including final APIs and behaviors. Play publishing also opens.
• Beta 4 (April): Near-final builds for final testing.
• Final release: Android 16 release to AOSP and ecosystem.

More details on the Android 16 release timeline for developers is available here.

 

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Android 16 will introduce a new Night Mode Indicator API that will let apps know when the device is in a low light environment.

This will let social/camera apps know when they should use the Night Mode Camera Extension available on some devices.

The API will provide 3 possible values:

UNKNOWN

The camera is unable to reliably detect the lighting conditions of the current scene to determine if a photo will benefit from a Night Mode Camera Extension capture.

OFF

The camera has detected lighting conditions that are sufficiently bright. Night Mode Camera Extension is available but may not be able to optimize the camera settings to take a higher quality photo.

ON

The camera has detected low-light conditions. It is recommended to use Night Mode Camera Extension to optimize the camera settings to take a high-quality photo in the dark.

---

Google says there are already over "120 different devices" that support Camera Extensions, representing "over 75 million monthly active users." Instagram, for example, uses the Night Mode Extension on the
@madebygoogle Pixel 6 and later, the @SamsungMobileUS Galaxy Flip6 and Fold6, and more.

 

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It’s still hard to grasp this new world we are in now, with Google back to releasing multiple versions of Android in a single year, or at least letting us test them. But that’s the story to end 2024. We have already put Android 16 on some Pixel devices in a first developer preview and talked about the new features we discovered. To end the year, Google is releasing another one, this time as Android 16 Developer Preview 2. Again, it’s December and we are already deep into testing Android 16.

For Android 16 DP2, Google says that the focus should be on the changes they’ve made that were “designed to enhance the app experience, improve battery life, and boost performance while minimizing incompatibilities.” To make those enhancements, it sure sounds like Google is making a lot of backend tweaks to Android, most of which are developer-targeted. Things like triggered profiling and job execution optimizations are a part of this DP2 release. You can read more about those changes at the link below from the Android Developers Blog.

When it comes to things you might notice as an Android 16 user, Google says that this DP2 and Android 16 will bring new controls over device haptics with haptic APIs, search within cloud media providers through the photo picker, a new activity intensity data type in Health Connect (that tracks how intense your activities are, obviously), and that’s mostly it. This is just a new developer preview, so the focus right now isn’t on any major platform changes that you might see in daily use. However, Google often makes changes we find that aren’t listed in their blog posts.

How to install Android 16 Developer Preview 2: If you were already on Android 16 DP1, you will receive DP2 as an over-the-air update shortly. For those who didn’t take on that first preview, you can join the party by flashing factory images to your Pixel device. Since this is still a developer preview, Google is not recommending that you do that just yet – this is really just for developers to start getting their apps ready.

Here is the build info for this DP2 release:

Release date: December 18, 2024
Build: BP21.241121.009
Emulator support: x86 (64-bit), ARM (v8-A)
Security patch level: December 2024
Google Play services: 24.46.30

Android 16 Developer Preview 2 downloads: You can find factory images to flash this first build here. The OTA images for Android 16 can be found here.

Looking for Android 16 Beta? Google is still planning to release Android 16 Beta in January of 2025, so you could see it within the next few weeks. At that time, you’ll be able to enroll through the Android Beta Program site.

// Android Developers Blog

 

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TL;DR

• Google just released Android 16 DP2, and it includes support for 7 new emoji.
• The new emoji include a face with bags under the eyes, a fingerprint, a harp, and more.
• These 7 emoji are part of the Unicode 16.0 release.

Google has just shipped the second developer preview of Android 16, and it delivers a whole host of new developer features. On the user side, though, there don’t appear to be a lot of new changes visible in DP2, at least not as far as we can tell. However, there’s at least one fun new feature we spotted while digging through the update: support for the 7 new emoji from Unicode 16.0.

Android 16 DP2 includes an updated emoji font file with 7 new emoji that are part of Unicode 16.0. Unicode, if you aren’t aware, is the universal text encoding standard that assigns unique numbers to every character, symbol, and script used in written communication. It’s what allows computers — even those running different operating systems — to understand and display text in virtually any language. Emoji like the melting face and upside-down smile are also codified in the Unicode standard, enabling them to be shared between devices running different operating systems or browsers.

Every so often, the Unicode Consortium adds new emoji to the Unicode standard, which are released alongside other updates to the standard. Unicode 16.0, for example, adds support for the following 7 emoji, as highlighted by Emojipedia:

• Face with Bags Under Eyes
• Fingerprint
• Leafless Tree
• Root Vegetable
• Harp
• Shovel
• Splatter

If you try to view that Emojipedia page and your device doesn’t support Unicode 16.0, all you’ll see are empty boxes instead of emoji. If you do actually see emoji, though, then your device does support the latest set of emoji. This is the case on my Pixel 9 Pro running Android 16 DP2, but it’s not the case on my Pixel 7 Pro running Android 15 QPR2 Beta 2.

Left: Emoji 16.0 page viewed in Android 15 QPR2 Beta 2. Right: Emoji 16.0 page viewed in Android 16 DP2.

Google is usually pretty quick to support new versions of the Unicode standard, so hopefully the company doesn’t take long to add support for the 2025 emoji lineup, which is set to include a whopping 164 new emoji.

 

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TL;DR

• Android 16 is introducing a new WritingTools API.
• The WritingTools API lets apps opt out of writing tools that enable keyboards to replace the user’s text with text generated by AI.
• Apps might want to disable AI writing tools when the user is inputting text in certain text fields like for emails.

Google rolled out the second developer preview of Android 16 the other day, bringing the platform a whole host of new developer features like better app control over haptics, search support for cloud media items in the photo picker, an adaptive refresh rate API, and more. As usual, it also includes changes that Google didn’t highlight in its announcement, some of which we’ve already covered. The latest change we’ve spotted is a new Writing Tools API that seemingly lets apps opt out of having AI rewrite text for you.

While digging through the documentation for Android 16 DP2, we notice that Google documented two new methods in the EditorInfo class: isWritingToolsEnabled() and setWritingToolsEnabled(). The EditorInfo class basically lets apps communicate information about an editable text field (like the type of text content it contains) to the current input method (i.e. an Android keyboard app).

The new isWritingToolsEnabled() method returns true when an Editor has AI writing tools enabled, which are enabled by default on all text fields. The documentation notes that “toolkits can optionally disable [AI writing tools] where not relevant e.g. passwords, number input, etc.”

The documentation under the new setWritingToolsEnabled() method explains how it can be used by apps to opt out of having writing tools rewrite text using generative AI.

Some keyboard apps like Gboard have AI writing tools that help you proofread or rewrite text using on-device or cloud-based generative AI models. Gboard has a proofread option on some Pixel devices, for example, that helps correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation in any text that you’ve typed, pasted, or dictated

Most apps should have no reason to opt out of AI writing tools in most text fields, but some apps may want to instruct the current keyboard app to not allow them in some situations. It doesn’t make sense to allow AI writing tools to be used to replace text in fields where you have to input an email address, password, or phone number, for example.

While Gboard already hides most irrelevant options when it’s focused on a number or password field, some other keyboard apps might not, which seems to be the logic behind this new Writing Tools API. Regardless, it’s going to be up to keyboard apps to respect this new API. Even if they do, though, it seems like it’d be very easy to work around, as you could always just generate text in another app and then insert it into the text field where it’s supposed to be blocked.

 

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TL;DR

• Google is working on a new design for Android’s volume slider and volume panel.
• The new design ditches the thick, pill-shaped sliders in favor of thinner, continuous sliders with handles.
• We don’t know when this new design will launch, but we presume it will appear in the Android 16 update.

Google will release Android 16 later this year. Android 16 will be the next major version of Android, and although we’ve already seen two developer previews for it, there’s still much we don’t know about what’s included in the update. I’ve been examining every Android build Google has released so far and have found enough evidence to suggest that Google is preparing major UI changes for Android 16. These include not only changes to the Quick Settings/notifications panels but also to the volume panel and volume slider.

When Android 15 was released last year, it introduced a big redesign to the volume panel that made it collapsible. The new volume panel featured much thicker, pill-shaped sliders, a dot at the end of each slider, and tappable icons to quickly mute individual volume streams. It also swapped the “sound & vibration” header up top with a persistent media output shortcut and made the stream-name text move along with the slider.

With a bit of tinkering, I managed to activate an updated UI for the volume panel in Android 16 DP2. The volume panel that I surfaced ditches the thick, pill-shaped sliders in favor of thinner, continuous sliders with handles. This new design falls more in line with Google’s Material Design 3 guidelines for sliders. Some of you may not be fans of the newer, simpler volume panel design, but its simplicity makes it easier to estimate the exact volume level of a particular volume stream. Here’s an image that compares the volume panel UI in Android 15 vs. possible changes for Android 16:

Google is also working to update the volume slider to match this new design. As you can see below, the volume slider in Android 16 will be less rounded and will have a thin rectangular handle. The icon indicating the current volume stream that’s being controlled will sit at the bottom of the slider instead of at the top. The three dots at the bottom, which open the full volume panel, are slightly smaller in the new design.

While the volume mode icon at the top hasn’t changed, the mode selector has been tweaked a bit to show other modes in discrete rounded rectangles.

I don’t know if the new volume panel and slider UIs I activated in DP2 will actually launch in Android 16. It’s possible Google will abandon this design entirely, so I’ll be monitoring future Android preview builds for signs of further developments. Let us know in the comments what you think of this new design!

 

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TL;DR

• Google is working to bring predictive back support to three-button navigation in Android 16.
• Predictive back lets you preview where the back button will take you.
• Currently, this feature only works with gesture navigation.

I’m sure this has happened to you at least once in the past: You press Android’s back button, and instead of an app taking you to the screen you were expecting, the button exits the app entirely. This is frustrating for users as it can cause them to lose progress, and it’s also frustrating for developers as it reduces usage. To solve this problem, Google created predictive back, a feature that lets you preview where navigating back will actually take you. Currently, predictive back doesn’t work if you use three-button navigation, but that’s set to change in this year’s Android 16 update.

Predictive back is a feature that Google has been working on for a few years now. It was first introduced as a developer option in Android 13 and became enabled by default in Android 15. It lets you preview the destination of the back gesture before you fully complete it, allowing you to decide whether to commit to going back or to stay on the current screen. If going back will take you to your phone’s home screen, you’ll even see a preview of your current home screen as you swipe inward, making it much less likely you’ll accidentally exit an app.

Google designed predictive back for gesture navigation, which is the intended method of navigation on Android. For accessibility reasons, however, Android still supports the old three-button navigation method that’s been around for more than a decade. Many users prefer three-button navigation for its speed and simplicity, so it’s still quite popular.
Because of this, Google is looking to bring predictive back support to three-button navigation in Android 16. With some tinkering in the second developer preview of Android 16, I managed to activate an early preview of this new behavior. As you can see in the video embedded below, when I press and hold the back button, I’m able to see what page I’ll land on next when I let go of the button. This even works in apps that support predictive back, such as Google Calendar. However, I’m currently unable to see a preview of the home screen when going back. I think this is happening because it’s either just a bug or unfinished work, though. The back-to-home animation will likely work once predictive back support formally rolls out for three-button navigation users.



I don’t know when Google will bring predictive back support to the three-button navigation method, but I’d be surprised if it doesn’t make it into Android 16. Android 16 is expected in the second quarter of this year, but this new behavior may appear before the stable release. It could very well go live in the first beta of Android 16, for example, which is scheduled for later this month.

Predictive back support isn’t the only upgrade coming to three-button navigation in Android 16. Google is also developing a new corner swipe gesture that lets you invoke the default assistant when using three-button navigation. Additional changes to three-button navigation would be nice to have, including the highly requested ability to swap the order of back and recent buttons.

 

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TL;DR

• The official Android 16 release timeline states that Google will release the first three beta builds in January, February, and March.
• A Googler has revealed the potential release dates for these beta builds.
• Google may release additional beta updates in April and May ahead of the stable release sometime in Q2 2025.

Google confirmed plans to release the next major Android platform upgrade much earlier than usual, shortly before rolling out the first Android 16 developer preview build last November. We’ve since received another developer preview build, and Google is expected to roll out the first beta build later this month. Although the company has not shared definite release dates for the upcoming beta builds, a Googler may have accidentally spilled the beans.

According to Google’s official Android 16 release timeline, the first beta build will roll out this month, followed by the second beta update in February and the third beta update in March. The timeline doesn’t mention exact dates, but Android Authority contributor Assemble Debug has spotted a comment on the Android Gerrit in which a Googler reveals that Android 16 Beta 3 will roll out on March 12.

The Googler also mentions two other significant dates in the comment: January 22 and February 19. While not explicitly confirmed, these could be the release dates for the first and second beta builds.

With the Beta 3 update, Android 16 will reach its first Platform Stability milestone. Afterward, Google may roll out additional beta builds for final testing in April and May before releasing the stable update to AOSP and Pixel devices in Q2 2025. The next major Android platform upgrade will likely bring several significant changes and new features. You can learn more about the confirmed and leaked features that could be a part of the update in our Android 16 features roundup.

 

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TL;DR

• Google is working on a new option for Android 16 that will let you collapse notifications into a shelf on the lock screen.
• Android 16 will let you choose between displaying the full list of notifications on the lock screen or a compact list that’s collapsed.
• In addition, you can select whether to automatically hide notifications you’ve already seen as well as silent notifications from the lock screen.

If you receive a lot of notifications each day, it’s easy for your lock screen to look cluttered. This is problematic, as it not only obscures your beloved wallpaper but also makes important notifications harder to find. This is something that the new compact notification shelf in Android 16 could solve.

In November, I discovered a hidden feature within Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1 called lock screen notification minimalism. This mode declutters the lock screen by collapsing notifications into a tiny pill below the clock. Tapping the pill expands the notifications panel so you can see the full content of each notification. This simple feature lets you see your lock screen wallpaper even when you’ve received a ton of notifications.

In the third beta of Android 15 QPR2 that Google released today, I noticed that the lock screen notification minimalism feature was removed. Instead, a new “compact” notification layout option is available for the lock screen. This new setting can be found in the Settings app under the Notifications on lock screen settings. Previously, notifications on lock screen were a dialog that let you choose whether to show all notification content, hide all notification content, or show sensitive content only when unlocked, but Google is turning it into a page with more options.

On the new page, you can choose to have new notifications collapsed into a shelf on your lock screen (the “compact” option) or shown in a full list (the “full list” option). The description for the full list option, which states that it’s the “current default placement,” suggests that Android 16 won’t force the new compact layout on users.
Even if you switch to the compact layout in Android 16, it’s likely that not all notifications will be collapsed. This is just speculation, but I’m guessing that Android’s new Rich Ongoing Notifications will always appear on the lock screen. However, we don’t yet know if this will be the case. Regardless, we can share what the compact notification layout will look like, as I managed to enable the feature in Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3.

Compact notification shelf

Full list of notifications

Alongside the new compact view, Android 16 may also introduce the “hide seen notifications” option I previously spotted. This automatically hides notifications you’ve already seen from the lock screen. There’s also a new “hide silent notifications” option that removes silent notifications, including conversations, from the lock screen.

The new “Notifications on lock screen” page is currently hidden in Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3. To demonstrate these new options, I manually enabled them within the build on my Pixel device. Given that these options aren’t live in Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3, it’s likely they won’t appear in the stable release of Android 15 QPR2. This is because QPR2 Beta 3 is the final beta for Android 15 QPR2. I’ll keep you updated on whether these new lock screen options make it to the stable Android 16 release, though.

 

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TL;DR

• Android will soon let you double-tap the power button to open Google Wallet.
• This feature is currently hidden in the final beta of Android 15, suggesting it won’t go live in the next quarterly release.
• Instead, it’ll likely go live in the upcoming Android 16 release.

If you store a lot of credit cards, transit passes, and other items in Google Wallet, you may find it handy to add the wallet shortcut to your lock screen and Quick Settings panel. That way, you can quickly switch cards without unlocking your phone and opening the Google Wallet app. Those of you looking for an even quicker way to open Google Wallet on your Pixel phone will be happy to know that Google is working on a new shortcut that opens it, and it could arrive in this year’s Android 16 update.

Many of the best Android phones let you customize what happens when you double-tap the power button, but this isn’t the case for Google Pixel phones. If you have a Pixel, double-tapping the power button always opens the Pixel Camera app, a shortcut that comes in handy when you need to quickly snap a photo. However, this shortcut might not be very useful if you don’t take many photos. Fortunately, Google will soon let you change the double-tap power shortcut to launch Google Wallet instead of Pixel Camera.

While digging through the Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3 release that Google just pushed out earlier today, I discovered some strings relating to this feature, confirming my earlier report. Here are the strings in question:

<string name="double_tap_power_summary">%1$s / %2$s</string>
<string name="double_tap_power_target_action_category">Double Tap Power Button</string>
<string name="double_tap_power_title">Double tap power button</string>
<string name="double_tap_power_wallet_action_summary">Access Wallet</string>
<string name="double_tap_power_wallet_action_title">Open Wallet</string>

These strings are part of a new page under Settings > System > Gestures called double tap power button. This page will replace the existing quickly open camera page. On this new page, you’ll be able to set the double-tap power button shortcut to either launch the Pixel Camera app (the current default) or the default wallet app. With a bit of tinkering, I managed to surface the new double tap power button page in Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3, which you can see below.

With this setting enabled, you can double-tap the power button to open the default wallet app, regardless of what app you’re in or whether the screen is off. I say “default wallet app” and not Google Wallet because the shortcut will launch whatever wallet app you’ve configured as the default, a feature that Google added in Android 15.

Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3 is the third and final beta for this quarterly platform release. As the feature is not present in this final beta, it will not be included in the stable QPR2 release. Because QPR2 is the last quarterly update for Android 15, the feature will not appear until a beta version of Android 16 at the earliest. While I don’t know the exact release timeline for this feature, I’ll continue to monitor Google’s beta releases to see when it goes live.

 

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It’s only January and we have already cruised right through the developer preview stage and onto betas for the next version of Android. It’s a wild timeline we’re now living in, but yes, Android 16 Beta is officially here for Pixel phones and you can test it today.

Google dropped the Android 16 Beta update info on us after two previous developer preview builds that we have been testing off and on since mid-November. This is all a part of Google’s new plan to release Android 16 earlier to their partners, followed by a minor-yet-still-big feature update later in the year.

In this first Android 16 Beta 1 release, there’s a chance we see bigger updates than we saw in the first couple of preview builds. Google shared some of the details in a developer-focused blog post that touches on adaptive apps for all screen sizes, live activities as a new class of notifications, support for high quality video recording, predictive back for 3-button navigation, expansion of Gemini extensions to more apps, and more. We’ll update you on all of this once we get Android 16 up and running on some devices.

How to download Android 16 Beta 1 on your Pixel​

Android 16 Beta 1 will be available (later today) to the same devices as the previews, so that means the Pixel 6 up through the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Release date: January 23, 2025
Build: BP22.250103.008
Emulator support: x86 (64-bit), ARM (v8-A)
Security patch level: January 2025
Google Play services: 25.02.31

Here’s the full list of Android 16 Beta devices:

• Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
• Pixel 6a
• Pixel 7 and 7 Pro
• Pixel 7a
• Pixel Fold
• Pixel Tablet
• Pixel 8 and 8 Pro
• Pixel 8a
• Pixel 9
• Pixel 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold

Easiest way: If you own one of those devices, the easiest way to get Android 16 Beta 1 is to sign-up for the Android Beta Program (here). You’ll simply click the “Opt In” button next to your device on that page to join and then sit back and wait for Google to push an update as Android 16 over-the-air.

Once you have enrolled, you’ll head into Settings>System>Advanced>System update to check for it. Google may not push it immediately and could instead roll it out slowly throughout the day. Either way, feel free to check through there to tell Google you want it after enrolling in the program.

Manual way: Want to get updated faster or would rather flash a factory image or OTA file through adb to feel more techie and important and smart? That’s always an option! I’ll be going the OTA route, but factory images will be available too. You’ll find Android 16 Beta 1 factory images here and the OTA files here.

Already on an Android 16 DP build: If you are already on an Android 16 Developer Preview build, Google says that you will receive the Beta 1 update over-the-air. Of course, you can manually flash a factory image or OTA file as well, since the over-the-air process often takes forever to process.

Currently on Android 15 QPR2 Beta: Google will let folks in the Android 15 QPR beta program directly update to Android 16 Beta 1 without factory wiping if they so choose. This should happen as an over-the-air update, like if you were on a developer preview build. However, if you’d rather not receive that update, Google says to ignore the prompt to install Android 16 Beta and simply wait for the stable version of QPR2.

Again, Google tells us the update will arrive a bit later today, not necessarily at the time of this post.

• UPDATE: It’s available now!

// Android Developers

 

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