The following table lists all documented features and behavior changes that might affect app developers. Use this list to find changes that affect you, and then click the corresponding link to read the documentation.
| Category | Type | Name |
|---|---|---|
| User experience and system UI | Change (all apps) |
Deprecating disruptive accessibility announcements Android 16 deprecates accessibility announcements, characterized by the use of announceForAccessibility or the dispatch of TYPE_ANNOUNCEMENT accessibility events. |
| User experience and system UI | New features and APIs |
Predictive back updates Android 16 adds new APIs to help you enable predictive back system animations in gesture navigation such as the back-to-home animation. Android 16 additionally adds the finishAndRemoveTaskCallback() and moveTaskToBackCallback. |
| User experience and system UI | New features and APIs |
Richer haptics Android 16 adds haptic APIs that let apps define the amplitude and frequency curves of a haptic effect while abstracting away differences between device capabilities. |
| Core functionality | Change (all apps) |
JobScheduler quota optimizations Android 16 adjusts the regular and expedited job execution runtime quota based on a few factors: which app standby bucket the application is in, whether the job starts execution while the app is in a top state, and whether the job is executing while running a Foreground Service. |
| Core functionality | New features and APIs |
Two Android API releases in 2025 In Android 16, the preview is for the next major release of Android with a planned launch in Q2 of 2025. This release is similar to all of our API releases in the past, where we can have planned behavior changes that are often tied to a targetSdkVersion. We plan to have another release in Q4 of 2025 which also will include new developer APIs. The Q2 major release will be the only release in 2025 to include planned behavior changes that could affect apps. |
| Performance and battery | New features and APIs |
Start component in ApplicationStartInfo Android 16 adds getStartComponent() to distinguish what component type triggered the start, which can be helpful for optimizing the startup flow of your app. |
| Performance and battery | New features and APIs |
Adaptive refresh rate Android 16 introduces hasArrSupport() and getSuggestedFrameRate(int) while restoring getSupportedRefreshRates() to make it easier for your apps to take advantage of ARR. |
| Performance and battery | New features and APIs |
Better job introspection In Android 16, we're introducing JobScheduler#getPendingJobReasons(), which returns multiple reasons why a job is pending, due to both explicit constraints set by the developer and implicit constraints set by the system. We're also introducing JobScheduler#getPendingJobReasonsHistory(), which returns the a list of the most recent pending job reason changes. |
| Performance and battery | New features and APIs |
System-triggered profiling Android 16 introduces system-triggered profiling to ProfilingManager. Apps can register interest in receiving traces for certain triggers such as cold start reportFullyDrawn or ANRs, and then the system starts and stops a trace on the app's behalf. After the trace completes, the results are delivered to the app's data directory. |
| Connectivity | New features and APIs |
Ranging with enhanced security Android 16 adds support for robust security features in Wi-Fi location on supported devices with Wi-Fi 6 802.11az, allowing apps to combine the higher accuracy, greater scalability, and dynamic scheduling of the protocol with security enhancements including AES-256-based encryption and protection against MITM attacks. |
| Media | New features and APIs |
Photo picker improvements Android 16 includes improvements to the photo picker such as new APIs that enable apps to embed the photo picker into their view hierarchy and new APIs that enable searching from the cloud media provider for the Android photo picker. |
| Privacy | New features and APIs |
Health Connect updates Health Connect adds ACTIVITY_INTENSITY, a new datatype defined according to World Health Organization guidelines around moderate and vigorous activity. Health Connect also contains updated APIs supporting health records. This allows apps to read and write medical records in FHIR format with explicit user consent. This API is in an early access program. If you want to participate, sign up to be part of our early access program. |
| Privacy | New features and APIs |
Privacy Sandbox on Android Android 16 incorporates the latest version of the Privacy Sandbox on Android, part of our ongoing work to develop technologies where users know their privacy is protected. |