Google's Android 16 is out: Here's what you're gonna get

It’s just been a couple of days since Apple announced iPhone iOS 26 at WWDC and, like clockwork, Google has only gone and released Android 16.

But unlike iOS 26, Android 16 is already available for some Pixel devices.

Android 16 is available for Pixel 6 phones and newer, and you no longer need to sign up for the Android Beta for Pixel programme to get started.

Not seen an update notice pop up on your phone yet? With any luck an over-the-air package should be heading your way soon.

If you’re hoping for a big visual revamp on your phone or tablet, though, you have a little longer to wait.

While Android 16 will introduce a new look dubbed Material 3 Expressive, that won’t come to the platform until September 3, according to Android Authority.

Here’s are some of the other features you’ll find inside Android 16.

The software brings a reworked presentation of notifications that seems entirely geared towards food delivery apps like Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Google’s pitch is that instead of having to head into the app to see the ETA updates on your pizza or curry, there’ll be a shortcut accessible from the top of the homescreen, in the phone’s status bar.

Google also claims to have improved security, with what it calls Advanced Protection. Exciting? No. But it does seem to be a “set it and forget it” feature that should make your phone more secure.

Things it does include — for example — Inactivity Reboot, where the phone restarts after 72 hours of idle time, making “user data unreadable until a fresh unlock takes place.”

Coming later this year, Android 16 will also offer a more desktop-style view for tablets, or phones plugged into bigger displays.

This has been around for years in third-party Android software and, sure enough, this take on it was developed in co-operation with Samsung. Its own take on the concept is called DeX, which you may well have encountered if you own a Samsung Galaxy tablet.

It will let you move apps around in resizeable windows, just as you might do on a MacBook or a Windows 11 PC.

Google says Android 16 will come to other phones “later this year.” But, as ever, those third-party upgrades can take their sweet time. If you want to read more on Android 16’s tweaks and features, take a look at the Android website.

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