Behavior changes: all apps

The Android 16 platform includes behavior changes that might affect your app. The following behavior changes apply to all apps when they run on Android 16, regardless of targetSdkVersion. You should test your app and then modify it as needed to support these changes, where applicable.

Make sure to also review the list of behavior changes that only affect apps targeting Android 16.

Core functionality

Android 16 includes the following changes that modify or expand various core capabilities of the Android system.

JobScheduler quota optimizations

Starting in Android 16, we're adjusting regular and expedited job execution runtime quota based on the following factors:

• Which app standby bucket the application is in: in Android 16, active standby buckets will start being enforced by a generous runtime quota.
• If the job starts execution while the app is in a top state: in Android 16, Jobs started while the app is visible to the user and continues after the app becomes invisible, will adhere to the job runtime quota.
• If the job is executing while running a Foreground Service: in Android 16, jobs that are executing while concurrently with a foreground service will adhere to the job runtime quota. If you're leveraging jobs for user initiated data transfer, consider using user initiated data transfer jobs instead.

This change impacts tasks scheduled using WorkManager, JobScheduler, and DownloadManager. To debug why a job was stopped, we recommend logging why your job was stopped by calling WorkInfo.getStopReason() (for JobScheduler jobs, call JobParameters.getStopReason()).

For more information on battery-optimal best practices, refer to guidance on optimize battery use for task scheduling APIs.

We also recommend leveraging the new JobScheduler#getPendingJobReasonsHistory API introduced in Android 16 to understand why a job has not executed.

Testing

To test your app's behavior, you can enable override of certain job quota optimizations as long as the app is running on an Android 16 device.

To disable enforcement of "top state will adhere to job runtime quota", run the following adb command:

adb shell am compat enable OVERRIDE_QUOTA_ENFORCEMENT_TO_TOP_STARTED_JOBS APP_PACKAGE_NAME

To disable enforcement of "jobs that are executing while concurrently with a foreground service will adhere to the job runtime quota", run the following adb command:

adb shell am compat enable OVERRIDE_QUOTA_ENFORCEMENT_TO_FGS_JOBS APP_PACKAGE_NAME

To test certain app standby bucket behavior, you can set the app standby bucket of your app using the following adb command:

adb shell am set-standby-bucket APP_PACKAGE_NAME active|working_set|frequent|rare|restricted

To understand the app standby bucket your app is in, you can get the app standby bucket of your app using the following adb command:

adb shell am get-standby-bucket APP_PACKAGE_NAME

Fully deprecating JobInfo#setImportantWhileForeground

The JobInfo.Builder#setImportantWhileForeground(boolean) method indicates the importance of a job while the scheduling app is in the foreground or when temporarily exempted from background restrictions.

This method has been deprecated since Android 12 (API level 31). Starting in Android 16, it no longer functions effectively and calling this method will be ignored.

This removal of functionality also applies to JobInfo#isImportantWhileForeground(). Starting in Android 16, if the method is called, the method returns false.

User experience and system UI

Android 16 includes the following changes that are intended to create a more consistent, intuitive user experience.

Deprecating disruptive accessibility announcements

Android 16 deprecates accessibility announcements, characterized by the use of announceForAccessibility or the dispatch of TYPE_ANNOUNCEMENT accessibility events. These can create inconsistent user experiences for users of TalkBack and Android's screen reader, and alternatives better serve a broader range of user needs across a variety of Android's assistive technologies.

Examples of alternatives:

• For significant UI changes like window changes, use Activity.setTitle(CharSequence) and setAccessibilityPaneTitle(java.lang.CharSequence). In Compose, use Modifier.semantics { paneTitle = "paneTitle" }
• To inform the user of changes to critical UI, use setAccessibilityLiveRegion(int). In Compose, use Modifier.semantics { liveRegion = LiveRegionMode.[Polite|Assertive]} . These should be used sparingly as they may generate announcements every time a View is updated.
• To notify users about errors, send an AccessibilityEvent of type AccessibilityEvent#CONTENT_CHANGE_TYPE_ERROR and set AccessibilityNodeInfo#setError(CharSequence), or use TextView#setError(CharSequence).

The reference documentation for the deprecated announceForAccessibility API includes more details about suggested alternatives.