Google Releases First Developer Preview for Android 16

Android 15 is still warm from the oven, but as promised, Google is moving quickly to Android 16 and a new release schedule. It starts today with the release of Android 16 Developer Preview 1 (DP1).

“Android 16 Developer Preview 1 is available now to test with your apps,” Android Developer vice president Matthew McCullough says. “This is the start of Android having more frequent API releases as part of our effort to drive faster innovation in apps and devices.”

Google revealed the new Android release schedule two weeks ago, when it explained that it would now ship a major annual release each second quarter (Q2) followed by a minor release in Q4. So Android 16 will have a shorter development cycle than previous releases, and it will be followed by a smaller release in Q4 with new developer APIs but no behavioral changes. (Google will also continue to ship interim quarterly releases to “provide incremental updates to help ensure continuous quality.”)

In keeping with previous DP1 releases, Android 16 DP1 introduces a few new features for developers. These include a photo picker that can be embedded in apps so that it feels like more of a natural feature of those apps, a developer preview of the Health Connect APIs for reading and writing medical records in FHIR format with explicit user consent, and the latest version of the Privacy Sandbox.

The Android 16 Preview program will run through the final public release of the system in Q2 2025, Google says, but the firm will try to release the first Platform Stability milestone release in late Q1 with final SDK/NDK APIs and behaviors. There will be multiple updates along the way, as always, with new SDK tools, system images, emulators, API references, and more. And there will be more consumer-focused beta releases further into development.

Those who wish to get started now will need to flash a compatible Pixel device and use the latest preview version of Android Studio Ladybug for app development. Future builds will be delivered over-the-air (OTA) like normal Android updates.

You can learn more on the Android Developer website.