Google Starts Rolling out First Android 16 Beta

Google today started rolling out Android 16 Beta 1 to Pixel devices, debuting dynamic lock screen notifications, better full-screen app support for larger devices like tablets and foldables, and more (via TechCrunch).

The first public beta for the next major iteration of Android comes a couple of months after Google released Android 16 Developer Preview 1. This is the first of four planned public beta releases ahead of Android 16’s full launch later in Q2.

Android 16 Beta 1’s most noteworthy new feature is Live Updates — new, dynamic notifications that update in real-time to “help users monitor and quickly access important ongoing activities” like navigation, ride-sharing, and food delivery.

Live Updates are tacked on to the top of the regular notification stack, available on both the lockscreen and in the drop-down notification shade. They’re Google’s take on Live Activities, the adaptive notifications Apple introduced with iOS 16 in 2022 designed around the Dynamic Island on newer iPhones.

At its Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this week, Samsung announced a similar feature coming to the new Galaxy S25 lineup — the Now Bar.

Android 16 Beta 1 also prevents developers from locking the size and orientation of their app windows. This will improve app appearance on devices with larger screens by ensuring they always launch in full-screen and can be freely resized for multitasking. According to Google, the change will allow apps to “work seamlessly” on devices “regardless of display size and form factor.” The restriction doesn’t apply to games.

Other major features shipping with Android 16 Beta 1 include support for the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, improved vertical text rendering, and scene detection to enable night mode in camera apps.

The two developer betas Google released for Android 16 so far also added a slew of new features, including a better photo picker menu, enhanced haptic controls, and a new Health Connect app that allows users to share medical information. Google also said it is working on additional Gemini Extensions to enable its AI assistant to work with “more apps with more OEMs on more devices across more form factors.”

Android 16 Beta 1 will be available starting today for Pixel 6 and above, along with the Pixel Tablet. Have you tried the first beta release of Android 16? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below.