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.

• As of Android 11, Android has required apps to conform to a data privacy policy known as scoped storage, under which apps may only automatically have access to certain directories (such as those for pictures, music, and video), and app-specific directories they have created themselves.
• For example, you’ll be alerted when the clock has changed for daylight saving time.
• There may be no toggle or setting to switch back to the classic combined notification and Quick Settings panel.
• 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.
• All-New Samsung announced that a revamped Health app is on the way to users, highlighting a host of new features.
• With Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, we also managed to activate its Settings menu entry.

As of Android 11, Android has required apps to conform to a data privacy policy known as scoped storage, under which apps may only automatically have access to certain directories (such as those for pictures, music, and video), and app-specific directories they have created themselves. Google later changed its Android specification documents to state that “Touchscreens will be supported”, although “the Product was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an assumption, therefore a touchscreen cannot completely replace physical buttons”. As you’d expect, the “share” button will launch the system’s share menu, and the “edit” button will prompt you to open the video in a compatible media editor. Instead of a dropdown menu, the audio options are now listed as separate toggles. Parents can use this menu to set daily screen time limits, schedule downtime to automatically lock the device at night, and restrict specific apps via timers or total blocks.

Versatile Video Coding (VVC) Support

This Time zone change notification went live in the July 2025 Android Canary release and was graduated to the stable release with Android 16 QPR2 stable release. The notification’s title will say “Your time zone changed,” and the body will include the exact time zone you’re now in. The description states that the feature will allow you to “receive a notification when your time zone is automatically updated.” spinalto casino Your Android phone can automatically adjust the time when you enter a new time zone. A new toggle in Android 16 QPR2 allows you to disable Failed Authentication Lock.

Android 17: Confirmed features and changes

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, designed primarily for touchscreen-based mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.

• Google responded that the tool, especially its initial release, was intended as a sample framework for developers to modify and build upon depending on their needs, not as a finished piracy solution.
• With the Android Canary 2511 release, Google quietly implemented a change that automatically enables wireless debugging when a device connects to a trusted network.
• Simply mark the games and apps you want to remove, and with a single tap, they will be deleted from your Android device.
• The platform is also focused on supporting developers with tools like ARCore and Unity to build applications for upcoming XR devices.
• Later QPR betas give us even more features that can be chalked up to the next platform release, unless they are completely Pixel-exclusive.

While the core Android system remains free, OEMs in Europe would be required to purchase a paid license to the core suite of Google applications, such as Gmail, Google Maps and the Google Play Store. On October 16, 2018, Google announced that it would change its distribution model for Google Mobile Services in the EU, since part of its revenues streams for Android which came through use of Google Search and Chrome were now prohibited by the EU’s ruling. Google responded that the tool, especially its initial release, was intended as a sample framework for developers to modify and build upon depending on their needs, not as a finished piracy solution. This began to change in 2012, with the release of the affordable Nexus 7 and a push by Google for developers to write better tablet applications.

Requirements (Latest version)

The video compression standard can deliver video quality similar to or better than the original at lower file sizes, provided the Android device also supports it. Vulkan allows developers to leverage the performance of modern smartphone GPUs to unlock features such as ray tracing in games and multithreading. The app UI should fill the space and respect the device posture on large-screen devices (as this change does not apply to conventional glass-slab smartphones). With Android 17, this change is now mandatory, and developers will no longer be able to opt out.

Storage

As such, we’re labeling these features as “carry over features” as they technically went live with Android 16, but will most likely reach the wider Android platform with Android 17. These features are live on Pixel phones running Android 16, but Android OEMs could adopt them as part of the Android 17 platform update. Google added features to Android 16 after the initial stable release, primarily through the Android 16 QPR1, QPR2, and QPR3 releases. Presuming Google doesn’t change its timelines, we expect stable Android 17 to be released sometime in June 2026. Before the official reveal, a trusted source within Google had shared evidence with us that clearly shows the company using “CinnamonBun” as the internal codename for API level 37.0, i.e., for Android 17.

Because of this limitation, apps that need this functionality end up baking in a separate mechanism (usually a button or similar entry point outside the Photo picker) to click a new photo. The Android Photo picker lacks a direct shortcut to launch the device’s camera. With Android 17 Beta 3, widget padding, text size, and layout attributes automatically scale based on the density difference between the app’s original context and the target display. This is useful for multitasking scenarios, such as a video conferencing app keeping video call controls accessible while the user navigates other apps. Android 17 Beta 3 introduces a separate Assistant volume slider, allowing you to change the Assistant’s volume independently from the media volume. You can choose to have notifications, ringtones, and alarms play on your connected hearing aid or on your device’s built-in speaker.

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.
For example, as Android was developed initially as a phone OS, hardware such as microphones were required, while over time the phone function became optional. Some other hardware was initially required, but those requirements have been relaxed or eliminated altogether. Some hardware components are not required, but became standard in certain classes of devices, such as smartphones, and additional requirements apply if they are present.