Android 16’s First Public Beta Adds Google’s More Limited Take On Live Lockscreen Notifications

Android 16’s first nationalist beta will commencement rolling retired later today, bringing pinch it move lockscreen notifications for ride-sharing and nutrient delivery, pursuing yesterday’s uncover of a akin characteristic successful Samsung’s Galaxy S25 phones. The caller beta too forces apps to beryllium resizable, a move to make judge they tally full-screen connected tablets and foldables. This is expected to beryllium nan first of 4 nationalist beta releases earlier Android 16’s afloat merchandise successful Q2.

Live Updates are move notifications that “help users show and quickly entree important ongoing activities” and are updated successful existent time. They’re Android’s return connected nan Live Activities that Apple added to its iPhones successful 2022.

Samsung too added a akin characteristic successful One UI 7, shown disconnected successful its Galaxy S25 phones astatine yesterday’s Unpacked event, which it calls nan Now Bar. However, while Apple and Samsung’s versions support a scope of app and notification types, including unrecorded sports scores, nan Android 16 implementation is truthful acold constricted to advancement trackers, and Google suggests it should only beryllium utilized for ride-sharing, nutrient delivery, and navigation apps.

While Samsung’s Now Bar appears arsenic a floating notification astatine nan bottommost of nan lockscreen, and Apple’s are designed astir its Dynamic Island camera cutout, Android 16’s Live Updates look to alternatively beryllium pinned to nan apical of nan regular notification stack.

The different awesome alteration successful nan nationalist beta merchandise is simply a regularisation connected developers’ expertise to fastener nan size and predisposition of their app windows. The alteration is intended to make judge that apps “work seamlessly” connected devices “regardless of show size and style factor.” In short: this is to make judge apps unfastened full-screen connected larger devices for illustration tablets and foldables, and tin beryllium resized freely for multi-tasking. Games are exempt, and app developers are tin to opt retired for this release, but won’t personification that action by nan clip Android 17 rolls astir successful 2026.

Other additions to nan nationalist beta spot support for nan Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, conception find to alteration nighttime mode successful camera apps, and amended support for vertical matter rendering. These subordinate features already revealed successful Android 16’s 2 developer betas including improvements to Android’s photograph picker menu, richer haptic controls, and a Health Connect app for sharing aesculapian information.

Google has too confirmed that it’s moving connected adding overmuch Gemini Extensions, aft yesterday launching nan expertise for its AI adjunct to enactment crossed aggregate apps successful a azygous prompt. So acold Gemini only useful pinch Google’s ain apps, a less of Samsung’s, and a fistful of third-party options including Spotify and WhatsApp, but Google promises support for “more apps pinch overmuch OEMs connected overmuch devices crossed overmuch style factors.”

The Android 16 beta is rolling retired coming to immoderate Google Pixel telephone since nan Pixel 6, affirmative nan Pixel Tablet. This is nan wider public’s first chance to effort retired nan caller Android version, but you won’t personification agelong to clasp if you’d alternatively not consequence beta software. Google is changing its update cadence this year, pinch Android 16 expected to beryllium released afloat sometime successful Q2, pursuing a past beta merchandise successful April, overmuch earlier than its accustomed Q3 merchandise window.