Google simply kicked off this 12 months’s I/O with its first-ever Android Show, giving us an early have a look at Android 16 per week earlier than the primary keynote on May 20 and 21.
Check out: We ‘Stole’ a Phone From Google’s Sameer Samat and Were Dazzled by Android 16
Center stage is Material 3 Expressive, Google’s new design for Android and Wear OS, which brings new dynamic colours, springy animations and a extra fluid expertise to your smartphone and watch.
It’s not all about appears, although.
Google additionally previewed new options and settings, like smarter notifications, improved privateness and safety and better customization. And oh, yeah: Gemini AI is coming to extra of your gadgets, like watches, automobiles, TVs and even Samsung’s upcoming XR headset.
From the largest Android redesign in years to Gemini rolling out throughout extra gadgets, here is every thing new, together with Android 16, Wear OS 6, new instruments to combat scammers and options targeted on holding your knowledge protected.
Android 16 brings a extra fluid and pure UI to your cellphone.
Watch this: Preview: We Got Early Access to New Android 16 Features
Android 16 is getting a serious redesign
Google’s Material 3 Expressive design pushes Android’s trademark customization even additional. The theme this 12 months appears to be “springy,” as in additional fluid, in addition to placing pure animations into each nook of your consumer interface.
Interactions really feel extra tactile: Swipe away a notification and the entire stack ripples with a spring‑loaded movement, together with a satisfying haptic rumble while you snap the notification off. Even on a regular basis gestures, like swiping down the shade, scrolling current apps or adjusting the quantity slider, all now include the identical playful bounce.
And you will see these adjustments, in addition to up to date dynamic colour themes and bolder typography, throughout your total cellphone, together with in Google apps like Gmail and Google Photos.
Besides aesthetics, Android 16 additionally brings new performance to your cellphone. In Quick Settings, you’ll be able to squeeze in additional of your favourite toggles, like Flashlight and Do Not Disturb, whereas the brand new Live Updates characteristic permits you to simply monitor actual‑time progress notifications (your Uber Eats supply, a rideshare ETA, navigation instructions, and so forth.) so that you by no means should hunt for these standing alerts.
Expect Android 16 to debut first on Pixel gadgets later this 12 months, with companion telephones to comply with.
Read extra: Find out why we’re followers of Android 16’s newer, bouncier look, and the way Gemini will enhance your Google TV expertise.
Wear OS 6 is rounder, smoother and longer-lasting
Material 3 Expressive can also be touchdown in your wrist, this time formed round Wear OS’ round screens. As you scroll via your watch, lists animate in order that extra data is accessible, buttons stretch to hug the bezel of your watch so that they are extra simply tappable, and the animations are additionally smoother and simpler to comply with, like in your cellphone.
Dynamic colour theming syncs the entire system together with your watch face palette, in order that your interface feels cohesive as a substitute of cobbled collectively. Tiles have been reengineered to floor extra data, like a one‑faucet shortcut to your favourite contacts or exercise. With continued enhancements to efficiency and energy optimization, you’ll be able to count on as much as 10% extra battery life, the corporate says.
Wear OS 6 is arriving later this 12 months.
These are the methods Android 16 is holding your cellphone protected.
3 privateness and safety features coming to Android 16
Android’s safety playbook is getting three strong upgrades geared toward holding you one step forward of scammers, thieves and hackers.
For starters, the AI-powered Scam Detection characteristic, which blocks suspicious messages inside Google Messages, is getting smarter and higher at recognizing new textual content scams. On Android 16, Scam Detection can now flag every thing from crypto “funding” hustles to bogus toll‑street charges, blocking billions of shady texts every month.
Next, we now have Find Hub, a brand new dashboard the place you’ll be able to monitor your cellphone and baggage tag or verify that your youngster made it house safely. The service is including extra third‑occasion Bluetooth tags, and later this 12 months, it would faucet satellite tv for pc connectivity (the place carriers assist it) so you’ll be able to nonetheless share your location when cell service drops out. Google can also be teaming with airways like British Airways and Singapore Airlines to allow you to share your tag’s location with the airline for speedier baggage restoration.
To spherical issues out, Android 16 folds Google’s beefiest safety settings into a neater‑to‑toggle Advanced Protection mode. Flip it on and also you get the identical privateness and safety features Google reserves for prime‑threat customers, like journalists and politicians, together with stronger signal‑in necessities, stricter app checks and further safeguards towards malware.
Gemini is coming to your watch, automobile and TV.
Gemini is coming to extra of your gadgets
Google is pushing ahead to deliver Gemini onto each display screen you personal, whether or not it is your watch, dashboard, TV or the blended‑actuality headset Samsung is releasing later this 12 months.
On Wear OS you will quickly be capable of name out reminders mid‑exercise (“Remember that I’m utilizing locker 43”) or dig up restaurant particulars with out pawing at your keyboard.
In the automobile, Gemini takes over voice duties from Google Assistant, letting you communicate to navigate to an EV charger close to a park, summarize chaotic group chats, or catch you up on the day’s information whilst you drive.
Back at house, Gemini on Google TV will serve up child‑protected film picks and pull YouTube explainer movies on demand (“How huge is Jupiter, precisely?”). And on Android XR, Google’s new platform for headsets and good glasses, you’ll plan a complete trip in immersive 3D, surrounded by maps, movies and native ideas.
Gemini can also be coming to Sony and Samsung earbuds.
Gemini is coming to your automobile
Google is bringing its Gemini AI assistant into your driver’s seat, first on the 250 million automobiles that already run Android Auto (within the coming months), then on Google‑constructed‑in dashboards in automobile fashions just like the Lincoln Nautilus, Renault R5 and Honda Passport (later this 12 months).
With Gemini, you’ll speak to your automobile the way in which you speak to a passenger. You can ask Gemini to “all the time textual content Joe in Spanish,” floor taco joints alongside your route, or discover an tackle in a buried Gmail thread, all with out you having to memorize any sophisticated phrases or poke at your display screen.
And with Gemini Live, you’ll be able to workshop concepts (“How do I ask for that promotion?”) and be taught one thing new (“Tell me every thing about Frank Lloyd Wright”) fingers‑free in your automobile.
Google’s automobile developments do not cease at AI. The firm can also be including new apps to its catalog, together with new classes like video games and movies, in order that charging stops and faculty pickups are a bit bit extra entertaining. It’s additionally rolling out digital automobile keys to extra manufacturers, together with Audi, Volvo and Polestar.
Expect deeper demos of every thing subsequent week at Google I/O.
