Google Delivers Android 16 Beta 3

Android 16 is on a fast track, with Google releasing the third beta for developers and hitting the Platform Stability milestone right on schedule.

“Android 16 has officially reached Platform Stability today with Beta 3!” Google product manager Balaji Ganesan writes in the announcement post. “That means the API surface is locked, the app-facing behaviors are final, and you can push your Android 16-targeted apps to the Play store right now.”

Impressively, Android 16 Beta 3 introduces some important new features:

Broadcast audio support. Pixel 9 devices on Android 16 now support Auracast broadcast audio, enabling compatible hearing aids and earbuds from GN Hearing and Starkey to receive direct audio streams from public venues like airports, concerts, and classrooms. (This also works with Samsung Galaxy devices with One UI 7 and Android 15.)

Outline text. This replacement for high contrast text draws a larger contrasting area around text to help those with low vision more easily distinguish that text from the background.

Local Network Protection (LNP). This will be fully implemented in a future release, but with Android 16 Beta 3, developers can now opt in and test the LNP feature, which gives users more control over which apps can access devices on their local network.

As a reminder, Google plans two Android API releases in 2025, with a major SDK release accompanying Android 16 in Q2 that brings behavior changes that could impact apps and a minor SDK release in Q4 that will add feature updates, optimizations, and bug fixes. Google will also continue to release quarterly incremental updates to Android.

To get started with Android 16 Beta 3, you can enroll any supported Pixel device or use a 64-bit system image with the Android emulator in Android Studio. (Google recommends the latest Android Studio Meerkat feature drop.) Those testing previous pre-release versions of Android 16 will get Beta 3 over the air (OTA).

You can learn more on the Android Developer website.