All eyes are on Samsung as it unveils the Galaxy S25 series , but Google wants some of that attention too. Google has mentioned that Android 16 will start with beta releases around January 2025, and here's Android 16 Beta 1, which is currently rolling out to supported Google Pixel smartphones.
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With Android 16 Beta 1, Google announced the following changes:
Google is introducing Live Updates, a new type of notification that helps users track and access important activities that are happening. If any of this sounds familiar, it's because the feature is quite similar in look, feel, and functionality to the Live Activities that Apple introduced on iPhones running iOS 16 .
One difference is that Google recommends Live Updates for ride-sharing, food delivery, and directions use cases because these Live Updates notifications are handled with high priority.
Android 16 is gradually removing the ability for apps to restrict screen orientation and resizing on large-screen devices like tablets, foldables, etc. Google notes that this feature is similar to features that OEMs have added to such devices, allowing users to run apps at any window size and aspect ratio. With Android 16, orientation and resizing constraints APIs and manifest attributes will be ignored for apps (but not games) on large-screen devices.
Android 16 allows app developers to opt out of this change, but the 2026 Android release (i.e. Android 17) will make it mandatory, so app developers should start working on making their apps adaptable to different screen sizes and aspect ratios.
Samsung introduced the Advanced Professional Video codec at the Samsung Developer Conference 2023. This new “professional” video codec aims to deliver “lossless video quality” while using 20% less storage space than existing “general professional video codec” formats.
Google mentions that the APV codec has the following features:
Android 16 will support APV 422-10 Profile, which provides YUV422 color sampling, 10-bit encoding, and target bit rates up to 2Gbps.
Back in 2023, Samsung mentioned that the APV codec would be coming to future Samsung phones. As far as we know, that hasn't happened yet. The Galaxy S25 series adds support for Samsung Log video, but it works via the 10-bit HEVC codec. APV support could come with a One UI update or the next Galaxy flagship.
Predictive back is a feature that lets you see the destination of a back gesture before it's fully completed, allowing you to decide whether to go back or stay on the current screen. It was introduced as a developer option in Android 13 and turned on by default in Android 15 . However, so far, it's limited to gesture navigation.
Earlier this year, Google was spotted working on bringing Predictive back support to 3-button navigation in Android 16.
With Android 16 Beta 1, Google is actually doing this for apps that have implemented Predictive back correctly. With 3-button navigation, pressing and holding the back button will trigger a Predictive back animation, giving the user a preview of where the back button will take them. This behavior applies across all areas of the system that support predictive back animations, including system animations).
Android 16 includes a new RangingManager, which provides supported hardware ways to determine the distance and angle between the local and remote devices. RangingManager supports a variety of ranging technologies, such as BLE channel scanning, BLE RSSI-based ranging, ultra-wideband, and Wi-Fi time-of-flight.
This should theoretically lead to better device tracking support in the OS, as Android devices will soon be able to accurately determine the distance and angle of the tracker.
Google mentioned that they will introduce a new Night Mode Indicator API in Android 16 and with Beta 1, this API is here. This API helps apps automatically adjust to low-light environments when taking photos or recording videos.
Android 16 adds low-level support for displaying and measuring text vertically to provide basic vertical writing support for library developers. This is particularly useful for languages like Japanese, which often use a vertical writing system.
This is mentioned oddly in the release announcement, but it’s not part of Android 16 Beta 1 right away. Google highlights that Samsung just launched new Gemini Extensions on the Galaxy S25 series, showing off new ways Android apps can integrate with the power of Gemini.
Google says it’s working to bring this feature to more apps, with more OEMs, on more devices, and on more models. But the company didn’t provide any further details, technical or otherwise, in the announcement, so we’ll have to dig deeper to see what changes are coming.
As the name suggests, this Android 16 build is still a beta release. While it is considered to be a bit more stable than the previous Developer Previews, it still contains bugs and issues that will need to be fixed in the coming months. So, it is not recommended to install this Android 16 Beta 1 update on your primary device.
If you’re okay with the risk of your phone not working and losing your data, you can enroll your Pixel device in the Android Beta program on Google’s website. Once enrolled, you’ll receive an OTA update on your device, which you can install as normal to reboot into the new update. Users who are already in the Android Beta program or are running Android 16 Developer Preview 2 will automatically be offered the OTA update to Beta 1.
Note that downgrading your device to Android 15 may result in a factory reset, so make sure you have backed up all important data before enrolling in the program and installing the update.
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