Android 16 – Live Laugh Love Do

Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2 brings Material 3 Expressive to the Setup Wizard

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 11:15:49 +0000

[ad_1]

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR

Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2 adds a new Material 3 Expressive look to the Setup Wizard.
The redesigned Setup Wizard includes thicker buttons and a cleaner card-like UI on certain screens.
Most users are likely to miss the changes as the Setup Wizard only appears on new or wiped devices, but a refresh was much needed to make a strong first impression.

Google recently rolled out Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2 for supported Pixel phones, packing in many key changes, such as icon shape customization, step tracking in Health Connect, protection from SMS OTP hijacking, and more. If you are installing the update on an existing device, you’d have likely missed that the Setup Wizard has also gotten a Material 3 Expressive upgrade with this Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2 release.

Starting off with the Welcome screen, which has been the Hello screen since Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1, we now get thicker buttons. The Accessibility button is also larger and easier to hit without significantly impacting the Next button. The language selection screen now has a card-like UI, which looks much cleaner than the simple list UI from before. The Device Migration screen looks much more cohesive, and even the Skip button no longer seems out of place.

Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?

The Fingerprint Setup screen and Face Unlock Setup screen also look cohesive, with complementary button styling.

There are also splashes of Material 3 Expressive in the other screens, like the squiggly progress indicator and uniform button styling.

Most users would have missed these changes as the Setup Wizard only appears if you start afresh on the phone, like either on a new phone or after you’ve wiped the data of your existing device. It’s a small change, but it’s one of the first impressions of a phone, so it makes a lot of sense to present a polished experience.

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.

[ad_2]

You Home Screen Is Getting in “Shape” With the Latest Android 16 Beta

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 03:14:54 +0000

[ad_1]

Summary

Native app icon shapes: choose from 5 styles (circle, squircle, clover, bubbly-pentagon, half‑round).
ART garbage collection is more efficient — less cleanup, lower battery use and a smoother device feel.
Health Connect auto-tracks steps and logs weight, set-index and RPE. New dev verification and OTP delays boost security.

Android 16 has been officially available for a few months now, but the beta program is still going strong. The second beta for the upcoming quarterly release (QPR2) has just been released for Pixel phones, and it has some cool goodies.

What’s New

One of the biggest user-facing changes is the ability to change app icon shapes. If you’ve ever wanted to switch up your home screen without a third-party launcher, this is for you. You can now choose from a list of five different shapes that will apply to all your app icons. You get the standard circle, squircle, clover, bubbly-pentagon, and a half-round. This is the first time that this functionality has been added to native Android.

Under the hood, there are some changes that you might not see, but you should feel. The garbage collection process in the Android Runtime (ART) has been made more efficient. This means your phone will spend less time cleaning up old data and use less battery in the process. If you have that classic “feels faster” moment after installing the beta, it could be this.

For those who use Health Connect—you should if you aren’t—the app now automatically tracks your steps using your phone’s sensors. You’ll no longer have to rely on a separate app or wearable to get a basic step count. Apps can now also record and read weight, set index, and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) for exercise segments.

Finally, in the security realm, they’ve added a new requirement for developer verification, making it harder for scammers to spread malicious apps. And to combat OTP hijacking, the delivery of certain SMS messages will be delayed to give you time to notice any suspicious activity.

How to Get It

If you’re already in the Android Beta Program, you should see the update appear on your eligible Pixel device soon. The update is available for a wide range of devices, including the new Pixel 10 series, which was just added this week. If you’re not in the beta, you can easily opt in to the Android Beta Program, or manually sideload an OTA image with the Android Flash Tool. The final public release of Android 16 QPR2 is scheduled for December.

Source: Android Developers

Brand: Google
SoC: Google Tensor G5

Looking to upgrade to a Pixel but not sure if you need all the bells and whistles of the more expensive models? You won’t be disappointed with the standard Pixel 10 model. Coming in striking colors, Gemini features, and seven years of updates, you can’t go wrong with this purchase.

[ad_2]

Google testing new ‘Parental controls’ setting in Android Canary

admin — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:39:47 +0000

[ad_1]

Paul Jones / Android Authority

TL;DR

Google has launched a new Android Canary release channel for developers to test experimental features.
A new “Parental controls” setting has appeared in Pixel devices running the Canary build.
The setting may be linked to Android 16’s upcoming “Supervision” tools for managing screen time and web content for children.

We’ve spotted a new “Parental controls” setting in Pixel devices running Google’s new Android Canary build. It appears under the Digital Wellbeing option within the Settings menu, and we think it could be linked to the “Supervision” tools we previously spotted in the Android 16 Beta 4 release.

Google’s new Android Canary release channel gives developers early access to in-progress Android features. In this initial Canary build, the new “Parental controls” setting hints at future updates to child safety tools on Android.

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority

The description of the setting reads, “digital ground rules & screen time limits.” However, tapping it currently doesn’t open up anything in the Canary build. Like we said, the feature appears similar to a “Supervision” page we previously found in Android 16 Beta 4.

In the earlier beta, the “Supervision” page included a toggle to enable device supervision and an option for web content filtering. Once supervision was turned on by entering a PIN for the supervised account, filters could block explicit sites on Chrome and explicit content in Google Search. These tools aim to hide inappropriate materials online, though they may not be able to block everything.

The Android Canary channel is aimed at developers, and Google warns that these builds aren’t suitable for daily users. The first release is available for several Pixel models, including the Pixel 9 series, Pixel Fold, and Pixel Tablet.

Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com. You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it’s your choice.

[ad_2]