18th April 2025 Google released Android 16 beta 4, which I have here on my Pixel 9 Pro XL. The update is not massive, but I spotted a lot of hidden features and tweaks that are worth mentioning. So without further ado, let’s jump in.
Build Information and Lock Screen Changes
Starting with the build number, I have PP22.250325.007. I will do a side-by-side comparison with beta 3.2 to show you the differences.
Beginning with the lock screen, you will notice the always-on display colors now match your device colors instead of always using the white color like before. As an example, I’m using the exact same wallpaper with the same exact color palette. When I go to the always-on display, I can see a green color, while on beta 3 it’s always in white color. Here’s another example with a different wallpaper – as you see, the color palette is now pink which matches my always-on display.
Home Screen Enhancements
Let’s talk about the new changes under the home screen. When you access the home screen menu, you will see one more option added called “app list.” Tapping on it will simply take you to the app list. Maybe Google is preparing something new but it’s not yet finalized.
Moving to the recent apps screen, you will find a couple of new changes in the app menu. First, the split screen icon got updated, and the screenshot and select buttons are now part of the list, which didn’t exist before, but they work exactly the same. On a side note, with Android 16 beta 4, Google removed the users widget from the list.
Notification Shade and Quick Settings Improvements
When you tap and hold on a notification, you’ll find some tweaks. The first one is the rename of the “turn off notifications” button to “turn off only.” We also got one new button called “dismiss.” When you tap on “turn off” on both, you will see that the toggles now have a new design – they are thicker and have a tick sign at the end.
For the media controls, the first thing you’ll notice is the darker album art which makes the text more visible. In the media output switcher, the volume bars are now thicker with a dot at the end, and we have a header for the rest of the devices. Plus, when you adjust the volume, you now get a haptic feedback which wasn’t the case before.
Settings Menu Updates
Now it’s time to talk about the new changes under settings:
- Less contrast between the settings items and the background
- Under Network & Internet > Internet, when you tap on the gear icon next to your mobile network and scroll down, the “Allow 2G” toggle is now called “2G network protection” – instead of allowing your phone to connect to 2G, this toggle will now protect your phone from connecting to the 2G network
- In the Apps menu, when you go to the cloud media app, the page now appears in full-screen view
- Under Sound & Vibration, the volume sliders range has reappeared
- In Vibration and Haptics, you’ll see much thicker volume bars in beta 4 – this change is not exclusive to this page but appears everywhere under settings
- Under Display & Touch, when you tap on the brightness level, there’s a redesigned slider with a black bar around it to match the one in quick settings
For some reason, after installing beta 4, I no longer see the battery health page of Android 16 on my Pixel 9 Pro XL, and I’m back to the same charging optimization page of Android 15. Hopefully, it’s a bug and Google will push the feature back again.
One more feature that got removed with this build is under the Face and Fingerprint unlock – when you go to fingerprint unlock, the screen-off fingerprint unlock option is no longer there.
The last new change under settings is under Security & Privacy > System and Updates. I’m now running May 1st, 2025 Google Play system update instead of April 1st like before.
Bug Fixes
As per the release notes, Google fixed several issues:
- Fixed an issue that caused the radar map to disappear in the Pixel Weather app
- Fixed an issue that impacted haptic performance and delayed feedback
- Fixed an issue that caused excessive power drain on some devices
- Fixed an issue that caused a system restart when a call was answered in some situations
- Fixed an issue that caused restart when screen magnification is enabled
- Fixed an issue where screen saver did not start
- Fixed an issue where phone restarted when ranging API was used
There’s also another fix not mentioned in the release notes: the delayed folder animation problem is now gone.
Remaining Bugs
There are some bugs that are yet to be fixed:
- When you try to edit your home screen clock, you will get the page in dark theme even though the phone is in light theme
- When you try to edit your quick settings, the edit button is grayed out
- When you tap on it and scroll all the way down, you will see the page in high contrast view even though the feature is not activated
- When you play a game in portrait view and try to access the game dashboard, you will get an overlap between the game dashboard and the status bar
Performance and Battery
When it comes to performance numbers, there’s nothing major. My Geekbench 6 scores are 4514 for multi-core and 1881 for single-core, which is slightly worse than before. But in real life, there’s no major difference. The only improvement I noticed is the scrolling quality – it feels more refined and less sluggish than before.
For battery life, I didn’t have enough time to thoroughly test it. I’ve been using the phone for 1 hour and 45 minutes and lost 23% on Wi-Fi. I didn’t do anything major – all apps were used less than 1 minute, but I was navigating the OS to check the new features.
I’ve covered all the new changes in Android 16 beta 4. Please let me know in the comments if I missed anything.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHzhgIR2wUI
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