Android 16 may give its own spin on iPhone’s Dynamic Island alerts

Over the past few weeks, we’ve come across some interesting details about the next major release of Android. Currently in development Codenamed “Baklava” Android 16 will reportedly bring a cool new feature Priority modes for notifications.

If the latter sounds familiar, that’s because Apple already offers a number of focusing modes aimed at the same goal, and then supplements the system with: AI-powered priority notifications in iOS 18. It looks like Google doesn’t want to be left behind and may well get away with a popular iPhone trick by doing this.

Android Authority It is reported that Android 16 may offer something similar to Dynamic Island notifications. On iPhones with a pill-shaped Face ID cutout at the top, apps can actually use the space around it to show dynamic alerts.

This low-effort, non-intrusive system for displaying app alerts saves users the hassle of switching between apps to keep an eye on activity. Some Android phone brands like Honor have already taken inspiration from Apple’s approach, but the results have been disproportionate in terms of broader app support.

Thanks to the new system called Rich Ongoing Notifications, Android 16 can make it universal. The software code for this feature was first seen in the latest QPR version of Android 15.

The idea is for apps to take up more space and show more detail in the status bar at the top, rather than just appearing as icons. “The API will allow applications to create chips with their own text and background colors that appear in the status bar,” the report says.

It’s not clear whether these small application chips will be responsive, but if Dynamic Island notifications are to be taken into account, it would make functional sense to do so with Rich Ongoing Notifications. Once implemented, tapping on these will likely open a dialog with more information, or even take users to the full-screen view.

Google has created a similar status bar alert system when users: Record partial or full screen on Android 15. These can be used to present a wide variety of information such as music playback, taxi alerts, navigation tips, upcoming reminders and more.

Ultimately, it will depend on whether developers want to implement the Rich Ongoing Notifications API into their applications. But there is a very important difference here. Unlike Dynamic Island notifications, Google’s approach is not designed to use the area around the front camera cutout.

Instead, Google’s format in Android 16 appears to use the space available in the status bar at the top of the screen. But keep in mind that this is a very early look at the system, and we’re still a year away from seeing Android 16, so many design and functional aspects may change moving forward.