Second Android 16 preview release now available

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Google is also trying to push newer versions of Android faster. The second preview build of Android 16 is now available, and as for the final build, everything is still on schedule for mid-2025.

Well, Google has just come out with Android 16 Developer Preview 2, just a little over one month after the first came out, and not long after the fully realized Android 15 is September. Timing is still unaltered: a mostly complete ‘Platform Stability’ update should arrive at some point before Q1 2025, followed by a final patch after several months of testing.

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The majority of the changes are binaries, which are new routine enhancements, and app developer APIs, typical of most new Android preview versions. The Wi-Fi location services are optimized with the help of Wi-Fi 6 802.11az protocol, new possibilities are added to haptic feedback created by applications, new modes of adaptive refresh rate are introduced, and support of announcements for accessibility is removed. Some changes in background activities should enhance performance and power consumption.

Google stated in a blog remark, “This preview is for the following Android OS update which focuses on a Q2 2025 release for its clients and we look forward to another launch in early 2025 with more developer APIs. The planned behaviour changes that could affect the apps will be in the Q2 major release, the only planned major release for 2025. The Q4 minor release will continue to gather feature enhancements, improvements, and bug fixes, however no app-level behaviour change.

Developer Preview 2 is available now, and you can experience it either by flashing the system image to a supported Pixel device or with the new system images in the Android Studio SDK device emulator if you are an app developer. No other people should be attempting to use this right now—it’s not meant to be ‘production’ quality, and there isn’t much visibly different right now compared to Android 15.

Meanwhile, Google is introducing new features not in the Android OS version number release but in the form of new additions. At the beginning of the month, it announced changes to be made to the Find My Device tracking network. The latest Feature Drop for Pixel devices enhanced HDR photography and added Gemini Nano on the Call Screen.