The first Android 16 beta is available to download now – here’s what’s new [Video]

Google has launched the first Android 16 beta to developers and early adopters, providing insight into what the OS will bring later this year. A post on the official Android Developers Blog reveals multiple quality-of-life changes, such as ending screen orientation and resizability restrictions for apps “on large screens.”

Also: I may finally switch from Google Pixel to Samsung Galaxy in 2025 – and hardware has little to do with it

Many mobile apps on the Android ecosystem are developed primarily for traditional smartphones and not for foldable devices like the OnePlus Open. Unoptimized apps will keep their orientation on a foldable, which has the side effect of leaving blank spaces around the sides. This change allows apps to scale appropriately to run on “any window size [or] aspect ratio.”

Next, a “new class of notifications” called Live Updates is being added to Android 16. This lets users monitor and quickly access important ongoing …