Google Releases Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1

Google today released the first developer beta of Android 16 Quarterly Platform Release 2 (QPR2), the next major upgrade for its mobile platform.

“Android 16 quarterly platform release 2 (QPR2) Beta 1 is an early opportunity to try out the APIs and features that are moving Android forward,” Google vice president Matthew McCullough writes. “This beta focuses an enhanced user experience that works across multiple form factors, enabling richer apps with new APIs for creative expression, productivity, media, and connectivity, and developer productivity.”

This is particularly interesting because of the major changes that Google made to the Android release cycle starting with version 16. Google still issues a major new Android version each year, and it still pushes out QPRs each quarter with new features. But Android 16 shipped back in June in incomplete shape, so Google will add its biggest new features in subsequent QPRs.

As its name suggests, QPR2 is the second of those post-Android 16 upgrades, or it will be. But QPR1 has yet to ship: Google released a late beta last week and should complete in time for a September release. It should add more Material Expressive 3 UIs, Live Updates (a new kind of notification, similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island), and a developer beta of a new DeX-like desktop mode.

So what about QPR2?

Today’s announcement is for developers, so it mostly deals with low-level functionality. But there are some clues. The bit about enhanced user experiences I paraphrased above specifically calls out “a better experience across all form factors, from phones to foldables and tablets,” which suggests that the new desktop mode will come to stable in QPR2. And the richer apps mention is likely tied to bringing Material Expressive 3 to third-party apps; the updates in QPR1 are only for the OS itself.

There are also a few overt new features noted. These include an expanded option for Dark mode that will “intelligently invert the UI of apps that appear light despite users having selected the dark theme,” auto-themed app icons, a data transfer API for more reliable cross-platform migrations, PDF document editing, and more.

From a developer perspective, QPR2 is the first-ever minor SDK release in Android’s history, so the changes it delivers are additive and don’t impact app compatibility.

Google says that the Android 16 QPR2 beta program will run from now “until the final public release in Q4.” There will be interim updates with new SDK tools, system images, emulators, API references, and more. You can enroll any supported Pixel device or use the Android Emulator in Android Studio.

You can learn more on the Android 16 developer website.