Android 16 may bring ongoing rich notifications and resizable quick settings tiles

Android 16 is expected to bring significant updates to notifications, especially through a feature called Rich Ongoing Notifications. Android Authority.

Rich Ongoing Notifications API

This new API introduced In Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3, it allows apps to display more than icons in the status bar.

Apps can create interactive chips with custom text and background colors, similar to the screen recording chips introduced in previous Android updates. Tapping these chips will most likely open a dialog box showing more details about the notification, similar to the new screen recording interface.

Currently, the Rich Ongoing Notifications API is still under development and applications are not yet able to fully utilize it. However, Google created a command line tool to prototype how these notifications would work. Using this tool, fake notifications were created showing various app icons, text, and colors.

Examples shared in the report include fake notifications from different applications:

• A Google Clock notification saying “Alarm will go off in 10 minutes.”

• An Uber notification saying “Your ride will arrive in 5 minutes.”

• A notification from United Airlines that says “Your flight will depart in 9 minutes.”

Some critics have drawn parallels between this feature and Apple’s Dynamic Island. But the report added that Android has had similar capabilities, such as displaying call times in status bar chips, since Android 12, which preceded Apple’s launch of Dynamic Island.

The expansion of status bar chips to all apps in Android 16 marks a significant improvement, even if it’s influenced by Apple’s design. As the feature continues to evolve, further changes may occur before the official release of Android 16, expected later this year.

Resizable Quick Settings tiles

Another potential change in Android 16 includes resizable Quick Settings tiles. The latest beta reveals progress in streamlining Quick Settings, making it easier for users to find tiles.

Currently tiles in Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 cannot be resized by default, but enabling the experimental Quick Settings panel allows resizing. Users can adjust tile sizes to fit 1×1 or 2×1 to accommodate 8 to 16 tiles per page.

However, it remains unclear why the new Quick Settings panel does not take up the full screen, especially since it will not need to accommodate notifications.

As the Android 16 release date approaches, additional updates and changes may still be in the works for both the Rich Ongoing Notifications and Quick Settings features.

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