Home Android 16 beta brings resizable apps and updated lock screen notifications

Android 16 beta brings resizable apps and updated lock screen notifications

Google rolled out its first public beta of the year on Thursday (Jan. 23), bringing with it a lock screen upgrade to tackle notification clutter. The new beta is shaking things up by letting apps be resized on larger screen devices, making sure they work in full-screen mode on tablets and foldables. There are three more public beta releases expected before Android 16 officially drops in Q2.

Android 16’s possible new lock screen functions in beta

According to Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman, Google is working on a new “Compact” notification view for the lock screen in Android 16. He found the feature tucked away in the Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3 update that dropped on Tuesday, but it’s not live yet as he had to manually enable it.

Rahman thinks Google is holding off on rolling it out until Android 16 officially launches. The feature is expected to provide a “fully customizable notification view section for the lock screen.” The idea is that the Compact notification view will shrink all your notifications into a small pill right below the clock, showing just the app icons for your alerts. If you want to see the full list, just tap the pill, and it’ll expand everything for you.

Along with the new notification views, Android 16 is also set to introduce Live Updates. These dynamic notifications are designed to help you keep track of important ongoing activities and get real-time updates. Think of it as Android’s version of Live Activities, which Apple brought to iPhones back in 2022.

Resizable apps

Right now, some apps can lock themselves into portrait mode or specific aspect ratios, which is super frustrating for devices like tablets, Chromebooks, and even upcoming XR gadgets.

With Android 16, that’s changing. On large-screen devices, Android will override apps’ restrictions on resizing and orientation changes—though this will only apply to apps targeting API 36, not games. Developers can still choose to opt out in Android 16, however, the option is going away in the next Android version.

In a blog post, Google said: “Users expect apps to work seamlessly on all their devices, regardless of display size and form factor. To that end, Android 16 is phasing out the ability for apps to restrict screen orientation and resizability on large screens.”

Featured image: Google

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Suswati Basu
Tech journalist

Suswati Basu is a multilingual, award-winning editor and the founder of the intersectional literature channel, How To Be Books. She was shortlisted for the Guardian Mary Stott Prize and longlisted for the Guardian International Development Journalism Award. With 18 years of experience in the media industry, Suswati has held significant roles such as head of audience and deputy editor for NationalWorld news, digital editor for Channel 4 News and ITV News. She has also contributed to the Guardian and received training at the BBC As an audience, trends, and SEO specialist, she has participated in panel events alongside Google. Her…

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