The Android growth staff as we speak introduced the primary beta for the upcoming Android 16, which is predicted to be launched in Q2 of 2025.
At the moment, it’s anticipated that Android 16 will attain platform stability in March, at which level the Android staff will ship the ultimate SDK and NDK APIs in addition to ultimate inside APIs and app-facing system behaviors.
“This construct contains assist for the way forward for app adaptivity, Stay Updates, the Superior Skilled Video format, and extra. We’re trying ahead to listening to what you suppose, and thanks prematurely in your continued assist in making Android a platform that works for everybody,” Matthew McCullough, VP of Product Administration for Android Developer at Google, wrote in a weblog publish.
To raised assist adaptive apps — apps that change layouts primarily based on the dimensions of the display screen — the Android staff has determined to start phasing out the flexibility for apps to limit display screen orientation and resizability for big screens. For screens which might be bigger than 600dp broad, apps focusing on API stage 36 could have app home windows that resize, and subsequently, it’s endorsed builders verify their apps to make sure the UI scales seamlessly.
The Android staff can also be introducing Stay Updates, that are notifications that assist “customers monitor and shortly entry necessary ongoing actions.” There’s now a ProgressStyle notification template that can be utilized to construct a majority of these notifications for rideshare, supply, and navigation. Stay Updates assist customized icons for begin, finish, and present progress monitoring, segments and factors, person journey states, milestones, and extra.
Digital camera and media updates in Android 16 embrace assist for the Superior Skilled Video (APV) code and evening mode scene detection to assist apps resolve when to change to and from evening mode within the digital camera.
This launch may also embrace low-level assist for rendering and measuring textual content vertically, which is helpful for languages that use a vertical writing system, like Japanese.
And at last, this launch contains new accessibility updates, together with the flexibility to offer textual content a couple of ViewGroup with out overriding details about its kids, and the addition of setFieldRequired to AccessibilityNodeInfo, which permits apps to inform an accessibility service that enter to a kind area is required. “This is a vital situation for customers filling out many sorts of varieties, even issues so simple as a required phrases and situations checkbox, serving to customers to constantly establish and shortly navigate between required fields,” McCullough wrote.
In line with the Android growth staff, with this launch, any supported Pixel gadget is ready to get this replace over-the-air. If a Pixel gadget isn’t accessible, builders can use the Android Emulator in Android Studio.
