Latest Android 16 Beta 2: Full-Screen Apps & Better HDR Photos
Google just revealed the second test version of Android 16. This is one of four tests planned before the final version comes out later this year. Usually, the second test version has a lot of big changes, but this time it’s a little different.
Because Android updates are coming out faster now, this second test version is here much earlier than usual. In the past, these tests usually came out during or right after Google I/O, their big developer event. Even though it’s early, there are still some cool new things in this version
Let’s talk about camera and media improvements. This Android 16 test version has some new stuff for serious camera users:
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Smarter automatic exposure: They’ve added new ways for cameras to automatically adjust how bright or dark your pictures are. You can now control some parts of the exposure yourself, like ISO or shutter speed, while the camera still handles the rest. Google says this gives you more control than before
- Finer color controls: You can now make really precise adjustments to the color temperature and tint of your photos and videos. This is especially helpful for professional video recording. Before, you could only pick from some preset white balance options like “Cloudy” or “Incandescent.” Now, you can actually set the exact color temperature you want.
Motion photo capture intent actions
Android 16 adds standard intent actions (ACTION_MOTION_PHOTO_CAPTURE and ACTION_MOTION_PHOTO_CAPTURE_SECURE) that apps can send to request the default camera app to capture and return a motion photo. Apps must either pass an extra EXTRA_OUTPUT to control where the image will be written or a Uri through Intent.setClipData(ClipData). If a ClipData isn’t set, it will be copied there for you when calling Context. startActivity(Intent).
Ultra HDR image enhancements
Android 16 adds support for Ultra HDR images stored in the HEIC file format.
Ultra HDR is an image format that Google introduced in Android 14. Ultra HDR images are comprised of a base image that’s SDR and gainmap metadata that, when applied on top of the base SDR image, creates an HDR image.
Older Ultra HDR photos used the JPEG format so everyone could view them. Now, Android 16 is using HEIC, which is a better format.
HEIC images are usually higher quality, take up less space, can hold multiple photos, support see-through areas, and keep track of edits.
These new Ultra HDR HEIC images will be labeled “HEIC_ULTRAHDR” and will include extra data, similar to how the older Ultra HDR JPEGs did.
For developers, Android 16 lets them create custom visual effects, like making a photo look old-fashioned or changing the color. This uses a new system called AGSL.
Here are some changes in how apps work:
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Full-screen apps: Apps will now have to fill the whole screen. There used to be a way for apps to avoid this, but that option is going away.
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Health sensor permissions: Apps that want to use health sensors (like for heart rate) will need to ask for more specific permissions. They can’t just ask for general “body sensors” permission anymore.
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Memory page size: Android 16 is getting ready for phones that use a different way of managing memory. It has a special mode to help older apps work correctly on these new phones. Developers should update their apps to support the new memory system, but this mode will help in the meantime.
Measurement system customization
In addition to first day of week and temperature settings, Android 16 now lets you specify what measurement system apps should use.
This is part of Android’s regional preferences within Settings and is something that apps have to be updated to respect. The user’s preference is included as part of the locale code, so apps can register a BroadcastReceiver on ACTION_LOCALE_CHANGED to handle locale configuration changes when regional preferences change.
Developers are encouraged to use formatters to help match the local experience.
Miscellaneous
- Abandoned empty jobs stop reason: Apps in Android 16 that “rely on JobScheduler without maintaining a strong reference to the JobParameters object will now be granted the new job stop reason STOP_REASON_TIMEOUT_ABANDONED on timeout, instead of STOP_REASON_TIMEOUT.” Developers should use this new stop reason to detect and reduce abandoned jobs, which occurs when the JobParameters object associated with the job has been garbage collected but jobFinished has not been called to signal job completion.
- Intent redirect changes: Android 16 includes protections against intent redirection attacks that apply regardless of an app’s target SDK version. Developers can opt out of these protections by calling the removeLaunchSecurityProtection() API, though this should be done with caution.
- Elegant font APIs deprecated and disabled: Android 16 deprecates the elegantTextHeight attribute, and the attribute will be ignored for apps that target Android 16. This means the “UI fonts” controlled by these APIs are being discontinued, so “developers should adapt any layouts to ensure consistent and future-proof text rendering in Arabic, Lao, Myanmar, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Telugu, or Thai.”
- Content handling for live wallpapers: The live wallpaper framework is getting a new content API to address the challenges of dynamic, user-driving wallpapers. Android 16 introduces WallpaperDescription and WallpaperInstance. These APIs allow the wallpaper picker and WallpaperManager to better present live wallpapers to users in cases where a wallpaper has unique content on the home screen versus the lock screen.
- Headroom APIs in ADPF: Android 16 introduces the getCpuHeadroom and getGpuHeadroom APIs in SystemHealthManager to provide games and resource-intensive apps with estimates of available CPU and GPU resources. Developers can customize the time window used to compute the headroom and select between average or minimum resource availability.
- Key sharing API: New APIs in Android 16 let apps share access to Android Keystore keys with other apps. The new KeyStoreManager class lets apps grant and revoke access to keys by app uid, and it also has an API for apps to access shared keys.
- Standardized picture and audio quality frameworks for TVs: The new MediaQuality package in Android 16 exposes “a set of standardized APIs for access to audio and picture profiles and hardware-related settings.” This lets streaming apps query profiles and apply them to media dynamically. For example, movies mastered with a wider dynamic range require higher color accuracy, so a profile that prefers color accuracy over brightness may be appropriate.
As I mentioned at the beginning, there are two more betas left in the Android 16 beta program.
The next beta, Android 16 Beta 3, will mark the Platform Stability milestone for Android 16, which is when the SDK APIs, NDK APIs, and app-facing system behaviors will be finalized.
The stable Android 16 release is dropping sometime in Q2 of 2025, which is only a few months away.
If you want to install Android 16 Beta 2, you can do so by enrolling your Pixel device (Pixel 6 or later) in the Android beta program.
