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Android 16 Beta 1 is out: here is what is new or changing

Google released the first beta version of this year's Android release, Android 16, today. With Android 16 nearing completion, it is a good time to look at the major changes of the new mobile operating system.

Tip: check out our list of the best Android emulators for Windows here.

How to get Android 16 Beta 1

Android 16 Beta 1 is available to Google Pixel devices at the time of writing. It is necessary to enroll in the beta, which can be done on this page.

This requires signing in to a Google account to see the list of eligible devices.

Major features of Android 16

Google introduces several new features and changes in Android 16. Here is a list of the major ones:

  • Advanced Professional Video support: the new codec "is designed to be used for professional level high quality video recording and post production".
  • Adaptive Apps: the change disables the developer ability to restrict screen orientation and resizability on large screens to make sure that apps work seamlessly on devices with large displays.
  • Live Updates: a new class of notifications that "help users monitor and quickly access important ongoing activities". Google suggests to use this only for "ride sharing, food delivery, and navigation use cases".
  • Connectivity improvements: support for security features on devices that support Wi-Fi 6 802.11az that allows apps to "combine the higher accuracy, greater scalability, and dynamic scheduling of the protocol with security enhancements including AES-256-based encryption and protection against MITM attacks".
  • Photo Picker: improvements that allow apps to better embed the tool and enable cloud media provider searching.
  • Privacy Sandbox: latest version of the privacy feature is integrated into Android 16.
  • Support for three-button navigation.
  • Automatic night mode scene detection for cameras.
  • Low-level support for rendering and measuring vertical text: this is designed for vertical writing language systems.
  • Generic ranging API to determine the distance and angle between the Android device and another supported piece of hardware.
  • Richer haptics: apps may define the "amplitude and frequency curves of a haptic effect while abstracting away differences between device capabilities".

When is Google releasing Android 16?

Google aims for a release in the second quarter of 2025. This means that Android 16 will likely become available earlier in the year than Android 15, which was delayed and released in October 2024.

Now it is your turn. Anything on the list that you find interesting or are looking forward to? Anything missing in your opinion? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

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