🔕Android 16’s notification cooldown feature will save you from notification spam

Android 16 DP1 finally brings that notification cooldown feature we first spotted in the Android 15 preview!

Here's how the new notification cooldown feature works.

🔒Android 16 DP1 automatically hides some sensitive notifications from the lock screen

I discovered that Android 16 automatically redacts the content of notifications that have OTP codes in them from appearing on the lock screen.

Details + images can be found in this article.

Google has officially launched the Android Switch app and also announced a few improvements to iOS --> Android data transfer process, including:

- A streamlined onboarding process

- 40% faster data transfers when using a cable

- Ability to restore data after setup. Already available on Pixel 9 series but coming to more Android devices in 2025.

- New express setup option that only transfers data stored locally and not in the cloud. Also already available on Pixel 9 series.

- If you have a Pixel Watch, it'll prompt you to transfer data to your new phone at the end of setup.

🗓 Did Google releasing Android 16 DP1 yesterday surprise you?

What if I told you that Google actually planned to release it last Thursday? That’s right, Google originally planned to release Android 16 DP1 on the same week as Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1, but it got delayed. Whew.

💡Android 16 DP1 integrates Extra Dim into the brightness bar

A few months ago, I told you about a new feature that Google was working on called Even Dimmer.

Well, it's actually now live in Android 16 DP1...but only for the Pixel 9 for some reason.

Details can be found in this article.

🧘 Health Connect is adding support for saving your yoga and meditation sessions

The next version of Health Connect, currently available in Android 16 DP1, adds support for a new category of data called Mindfulness.

More details on what this means can be found in this article.

Source: Google has canceled the Pixel Tablet 2, not the Tab 3

Google is pulling the plug on its next Pixel Tablet, citing fears the product wouldn’t sell very well.

More details can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.

Google is testing a new UI for the Now Playing screen in YouTube Music for Android.

Here's a comparison between the old/current UI and the new one in testing. As you can see, the placement of the media controls has changed.

Which do you prefer?

(H/T JING for the screenshots!)

It seems the uptick of leaked keyboxes has finally caught Google's ire:

I've seen a number of keyboxes leak online, and they're being used to defeat hardware attestation signals used by the Google Play Integrity API. Basically, these leaked keys let devices with unlocked bootloaders act as if they're locked, which is normally nearly impossible to do because of hardware attestation.

To rectify this, Google is revoking these keys, but this may impact some regular end users whose devices will be unable to run certain apps. Google says it's working with impacted OEMs to update these keyboxes so users won't be impacted, but I suspect this isn't the end of these leaks.

📲Android 16 could add a feature that lets Gemini execute functions within your apps

This could basically let Gemini become an AI agent for your phone, accomplishing what the 'new Google Assistant' from 2019 was envisioned to do.

More details can be found in my latest article on Android Authority.

Sony might be one of the few OEMs that'll actually implement Google's Private Space feature in Android 15.

Most other OEMs will just stick with their current takes on this feature, like Samsung Secure Folder, Xiaomi Second Space, OnePlus Hide Apps, etc.

It's a shame because these other implementations can't be integrated into third-party launchers and also a lot of apps treat them like a work profile is installed.