Google is preparing to upgrade Android’s UWB stack with features from the FiRa 3.0 core specification. This button is slated to receive “special visual treatment,” possibly indicating a custom animation when it appears or is tapped. In Android 17 Beta 3, if you have a 2×1 Quick Settings tile, tapping the left side (on the Wi-Fi icon itself) toggles Wi-Fi on and off, while tapping the right side (outside the Wi-Fi icon, on the label) opens the pop-up. Previously, tapping the Wi-Fi Quick Settings tile would open a pop-up with options for nearby Wi-Fi networks, a toggle to enable or disable Wi-Fi, and other settings.
Key Changes for SDK 37
The dedicated “Screenshot” and “Select” buttons are now also enclosed in pill-shaped containers, creating a more consistent look in the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1 release. This icon is widely understood to indicate an additional menu, so its presence should help more users realize they can access further actions directly from the recents screen. Now, the Recents screen displays the app’s icon and name, along with a downward-pointing arrow, within a small pill-shaped button overlaid on the task. With Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, Google made some subtle changes to the Recents screen.
With Android 16 Beta 3, Google is giving app developers a chance to test if their apps are affected by this upcoming change. Local Network Protection will eventually require apps to request specific permission to access the local network. Later QPR betas give us even more features that can be chalked up to the next platform release, unless they are completely Pixel-exclusive. This gives us situations where we can try out new features coming to Android 17 (by checking them out in Android 16 QPR1 betas) before the stable Android 16 update is even launched! Android 17 will also crack down on apps that try to start audio in the background automatically when your phone boots up. Going forward, apps will need to either be visible on your screen or run a proper foreground service designed for things like music playback, navigation, or calls.
- Back in July 2025, we spotted Google working on a Handoff feature that would allow users to sync notifications, share files, and continue apps across their Android devices.
- This icon is widely understood to indicate an additional menu, so its presence should help more users realize they can access further actions directly from the recents screen.
- Live Updates is one of the highlight features of Android 16, but it was absent from the first stable Android 16 release.
- Ouya, a video game console running Android, became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns, crowdfunding US$8.5m for its development, and was later followed by other Android-based consoles, such as Nvidia’s Shield Portable – an Android device in a video game controller form factor.
- In May 2017, with the announcement of Android 8.0, Google introduced Project Treble, a major re-architect of the Android OS framework designed to make it easier, faster, and less costly for manufacturers to update devices to newer versions of Android.
- You can see a gray, circular button located after the divider separating pinned and recent apps.
Shortly afterwards, Google acquired the company in July of that year for at least $50 million; this was Google’s “best deal ever” according to Google’s then-vice president of corporate development, David Lawee, in 2010. Android is an operating system owned by Google which is based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other free and open-source software, spinalto casino designed primarily for touchscreen-based mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.
Why doesn’t the Google Play Store work even after installing the APK?
With Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3, Google expanded the frosted-glass-like background blur to more parts of the UI, like the power menu, widget picker, and even app folders. Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1 introduced subtle background blur (as mentioned above) to specific parts of the Android UI, namely the notification shade, Quick Settings panel, and Recents screen. These changes were spotted and enabled in Android 16 Beta 4 and are widely available in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, but they are unlikely to be available in the Android 16 stable release.
Less intrusive phone call notifications
Within Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2, we found code for a third companion device profile for third-party apps, specifically the “Medical” profile. Instead of requesting permissions one by one, these apps can use a device profile to show a single, bundled permission prompt. The “retake” button will be handy for quickly starting over after a mistake, while the “delete” button adds a convenient way to discard a recording without having to find it in your gallery.
- The full Live Updates experience includes Live Updates notifications appearing on the Always On Display, at the top of the notification list on the lock screen, in the Heads-Up display, and as a chip in the Status Bar.
- When connecting or disconnecting charging power and when briefly actuating the power button or home button, all while the device is powered off, a visual battery meter whose appearance varies among vendors appears on the screen, allowing the user to quickly assess the charge status of a powered-off device without having to start it.
- According to Gartner research company, Android-based devices outsold all contenders, every year since 2012.
- Previously, tapping the Wi-Fi Quick Settings tile would open a pop-up with options for nearby Wi-Fi networks, a toggle to enable or disable Wi-Fi, and other settings.
- In Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3, we managed to enable two new icons/buttons in the screenshot overlay.
Fairphone, a company focused on sustainability, explained that its inability to extend software support was due to Qualcomm’s policies rather than its own. To address this concern, Google introduced Project Treble, a framework designed to streamline the development and deployment of Android updates via Google Play Services, reducing manufacturers’ involvement in the update process. Originally only doing so during installation, Verify Apps received an update in 2014 to “constantly” scan apps, and in 2017 the feature was made visible to users through a menu in Settings. It is not possible, for example, to turn off the microphone access of the pre-installed camera app without disabling the camera completely.
Charging while powered off
The dedicated option key, also known as menu key, and its on-screen simulation, is no longer supported since Android version 10. More recent devices typically allow the former through a long press or swipe away from the home button. Many early Android OS smartphones were equipped with a dedicated search button for quick access to a web search engine and individual apps’ internal search feature. The recent list may appear side-by-side or overlapping, depending on the Android version and manufacturer. An “All Apps” screen lists all installed applications, with the ability for users to drag an app from the list onto the home screen.
Even though the Internet Panel offered more functionality, users weren’t happy because it required more steps to toggle mobile data and Wi-Fi. For non-messaging notifications, the text will change to “New notification” without revealing the notification’s contents. The changes are pretty voluminous to list here, so check out our original coverage for the whole scoop. With the above-mentioned Material 3 Expressive changes, Google is also planning a big UI overhaul for Android and expressive animations to accompany it. As a result, we have a list of features that are coming to upcoming Android 16 QPR releases for Pixel devices, which are also likely to be added to the next Android platform update, Android 17. A close look at an official screenshot (seen above) shows a menu displaying Play Protect status, bootloader status, and build number info.
More importantly, the “Microphone, Camera & Location” dialog now correctly lists the specific apps accessing your location. Unlike the solid green background used for camera and microphone alerts, the location indicator uses a solid blue background (though the system reverts to green if multiple permissions are in use). To try it out, open the Terminal app and tap the Display button in the top-right corner to launch a session that supports graphical output. Android 16 QPR2 introduces a built-in Parental Controls menu that provides a centralized location for managing device-specific restrictions. In Android 16 QPR1, this has changed to display the same UI element that you’d see in the notification shade, where you can hang up, toggle the speaker, and mute your microphone.
Android 17 QPR1 Beta 1 also brings an option to change the Terminal’s resolution through a new “Display resolution” setting. You can download themes from your phone’s browser, and opening them through any file manager will automatically import the theme into the Terminal app. Updates to the Android Photo picker are handled through Google Play Services, so this change might not be restricted or even tied to Android 17. Code within Android 17 QPR1 Beta 2 suggests that the Photo picker could include a camera option.