Android 16: Top Features and Updates Explained

Android 16, codenamed "Baklava," marks a significant milestone in Google’s mobile operating system evolution. Released on June 10, 2025, this update introduces a range of innovative features designed to enhance user experience, boost productivity, and strengthen security. From a refreshed design language to advanced accessibility tools, Android 16 builds on the foundation of Android 15 while introducing capabilities that make it stand out. This article dives deep into the top features of Android 16, offering a clear and engaging look at what’s new and why it matters.

Contents Overview

• Material 3 Expressive Design
• Enhanced Notification Management
• Advanced Protection for Security
• Desktop Windowing and Large-Screen Support
• Accessibility Enhancements
• Improved Camera and Media Features
• Linux Terminal and Virtualization
• Performance Optimizations with 16KB Page Size
• What’s Next for Android 16
• FAQs

Material 3 Expressive Design

Android 16 introduces Material 3 Expressive, a bold new design language that redefines the visual and interactive experience. Unlike its predecessor, this update emphasizes vibrant colors, fluid animations, and a more personalized interface. The goal is to make Android feel premium yet intuitive, allowing users to customize their devices to match their style.

Key elements of Material 3 Expressive include redesigned icons, a semi-transparent notification panel, and smoother transitions. For example, dismissing notifications or adjusting volume now comes with satisfying haptic feedback and springy animations. The Quick Settings panel is more spacious and customizable, featuring a blur background for a modern aesthetic. These changes aim to make every interaction visually engaging and emotionally impactful.

While the full rollout of Material 3 Expressive is expected later in 2025, early adopters on Pixel devices can already experience its refreshed look. Third-party apps will gradually adopt this design, ensuring a cohesive experience across the ecosystem.

Enhanced Notification Management

Notifications can quickly become overwhelming, but Android 16 tackles this with two standout features: Live Updates and auto-grouping.

• Live Updates: This feature allows real-time tracking of activities like food deliveries or ride-sharing directly from the notification shade. Instead of opening an app, users can see progress bars and updates from compatible apps like DoorDash or Uber. This mirrors Apple’s Live Activities but integrates seamlessly into Android’s lock screen and notification panel.
• Auto-Grouping Notifications: To reduce clutter, Android 16 automatically groups notifications from the same app into a single, compact stack. This makes the notification shade cleaner and easier to navigate, especially for apps that send multiple alerts at once.

These improvements aim to make notifications more glanceable and less intrusive, enhancing daily productivity. While Live Updates depend on app developers for implementation, auto-grouping is active out of the box, streamlining the user experience immediately.

Advanced Protection for Security

Security is a cornerstone of Android 16, with the introduction of Advanced Protection, Google’s strongest mobile device security suite to date. This feature is designed to safeguard users from online threats, harmful apps, and scam calls.

Advanced Protection includes several key safeguards:

• Anti-Scammer Measures: During phone calls with unknown contacts, Android 16 restricts actions like enabling app sideloading or granting accessibility permissions, which scammers often exploit.
• Protection Against Malware: It blocks insecure 2G connections, non-HTTPS websites, and USB-based exploits, reducing the risk of data breaches.
• Lockdown Mode: This mode enhances security for high-risk users by limiting device functionality to essential tasks, making it harder for attackers to access sensitive data.

Additionally, Android 16 automatically hides sensitive notification content, such as one-time passwords (OTPs), on the lock screen, even if the user enables the “sensitive notifications” setting. This ensures that critical information remains private, offering peace of mind in an era of increasing cyber threats.

Desktop Windowing and Large-Screen Support

Android 16 takes significant steps to optimize the experience on tablets, foldables, and external displays with desktop windowing and enhanced large-screen support.

Desktop windowing allows users to open, move, and resize multiple app windows on tablets, mimicking a desktop-like multitasking environment. This feature is particularly useful for productivity tasks, such as working on a document while referencing a browser. It integrates well with Samsung’s DeX mode, offering a seamless transition between mobile and desktop-like interfaces.

For foldables and tablets, Android 16 introduces adaptive apps, which automatically adjust to different screen sizes and orientations. Apps can no longer restrict resizability or orientation, ensuring a consistent experience across devices. This is a significant improvement over previous versions, where apps often displayed poorly on larger screens.

External display support has also been enhanced, with a new 90:10 split-screen ratio for multitasking. This allows users to focus on one app while keeping another open for quick reference, making Android 16 a powerful tool for professionals and multitaskers.

Accessibility Enhancements

Android 16 prioritizes inclusivity with significant accessibility upgrades, particularly for users with hearing impairments. The update enhances compatibility with LE Audio hearing devices, allowing users to switch to their phone’s microphone for clearer calls in noisy environments. Native controls for hearing devices, such as volume adjustments, are now accessible directly from the phone, ensuring a consistent experience.

Other accessibility features include:

• Audio Cues and Haptic Feedback: On Pixel devices, these help users who are blind or have low vision position their faces for selfies.
• Customizable Regional Preferences: Users can now set their preferred measurement system (e.g., metric or imperial) in regional settings, with apps automatically adapting to these preferences.

These features make Android 16 more accessible, ensuring that users of all abilities can fully engage with their devices.

Improved Camera and Media Features

Android 16 enhances the photography and media experience, particularly for professional and creative users. Key updates include:

• Night Mode Scene Detection: Improved algorithms for low-light photography, making it easier to capture stunning images in challenging conditions.
• Hybrid Auto Exposure: This feature balances exposure for both stills and motion photos, ensuring consistent quality.
• Precise Color Temperature Adjustments: Users can fine-tune color settings for more accurate and vibrant images.
• UltraHDR and HEIC Encoding: Android 16 supports advanced image formats, improving storage efficiency and image quality.

The photo picker has also been upgraded, allowing seamless access to both local and cloud-based media, such as Google Photos. New APIs enable apps to embed the photo picker directly into their interface, reducing the need for broad storage permissions and enhancing user privacy.

Linux Terminal and Virtualization

One of the most intriguing additions to Android 16 is the expanded Linux Terminal feature, introduced in Android 15 QPR2 beta. This feature leverages the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) to create a Debian-based environment where users can run Linux applications and commands within a virtual machine.

The virtual machine is fully isolated, using a hypervisor (KVM or Gunyah) to schedule resources independently. This allows users to run classic software, such as the game Doom, or even graphical Linux applications. While primarily aimed at developers and enthusiasts, this feature opens up new possibilities for running desktop-grade applications on Android devices, making them more versatile than ever.

Performance Optimizations with 16KB Page Size

Android 16 introduces support for 16KB page size, a significant performance enhancement that builds on Android 15’s initial support. This feature improves app launch times, system boot-ups, and battery efficiency by reducing memory management overhead.

Developers can validate app compatibility using tools like Android Studio’s APK Analyzer. Apps not optimized for 16KB page sizes will run in compatibility mode, but users may see a notification dialog. For best performance, developers are encouraged to update their apps to support this change, ensuring faster and more efficient operation across devices.

What’s Next for Android 16

While Android 16 is already available on supported Pixel devices, its full potential will unfold throughout 2025. A minor release in Q4 2025 will introduce additional APIs and features without major behavioral changes. This two-phase release approach aims to accelerate innovation, giving developers more time to adapt their apps.

Features like Material 3 Expressive and Live Updates are still in early stages, with broader app support expected later in the year. Google’s focus on adaptive apps and large-screen optimization suggests a future where Android seamlessly spans phones, tablets, foldables, and even XR devices.

Android 16 is a testament to Google’s commitment to refining its platform while pushing the boundaries of what mobile devices can do. Whether you’re a casual user or a power user, these features make Android 16 a compelling upgrade. Check your device settings to see if the update is available, and explore these new capabilities to get the most out of your Android experience.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

1. When was Android 16 released?

Answer: Android 16, codenamed "Baklava," was officially released on June 10, 2025, starting with supported Pixel devices.

2. What is Material 3 Expressive in Android 16?

Answer: Material 3 Expressive is Android 16’s new design language, featuring vibrant colors, fluid animations, and a customizable interface with redesigned icons and a semi-transparent notification panel.

3. How does Android 16 improve notifications?

Answer: Android 16 introduces Live Updates for real-time tracking in the notification shade and auto-grouping to organize multiple notifications from the same app into a single stack, reducing clutter.

4. What is Advanced Protection in Android 16?

Answer: Advanced Protection is a security suite that blocks scam calls, restricts risky actions during unknown calls, and protects against malware by limiting insecure connections and enabling lockdown mode.

5. Does Android 16 support tablets and foldables better?

Answer: Yes, Android 16 offers desktop windowing for resizable app windows and adaptive apps that adjust to different screen sizes, improving the experience on tablets, foldables, and external displays.

6. What accessibility features are new in Android 16?

Answer: Android 16 enhances LE Audio hearing device support, adds audio cues and haptic feedback for visually impaired users, and allows customizable regional preferences like measurement systems.

7. How does Android 16 improve camera performance?

Answer: It includes night mode scene detection, hybrid auto exposure, precise color temperature adjustments, and support for UltraHDR and HEIC encoding for better image quality and efficiency.

8. What is the Linux Terminal feature in Android 16?

Answer: The Linux Terminal uses the Android Virtualization Framework to run a Debian-based environment, allowing users to execute Linux commands and applications in an isolated virtual machine.

9. How does the 16KB page size improve Android 16?

Answer: The 16KB page size optimizes memory management, improving app launch times, system boot-ups, and battery efficiency, with compatibility mode for non-optimized apps.

10. Will there be more Android 16 updates in 2025?

Answer: Yes, a minor release in Q4 2025 will add new APIs and features, with broader app support for features like Material 3 Expressive and Live Updates expected later in the year.

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Written by App Jeevan

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