Android 15 stable version is currently rolling out to smartphones from various brands. However, Google has now released the first developer preview of Android 16. This change is line with the Android’s early release timeline. The first developer preview version is usually available in February-March. The search giant has already confirmed previously that Android 16 will come out in Q2, 2025, probably during the annual I/O Developer conference. This is why the DP1 of Android 16 is now way ahead of its previous schedule.
Android 16 Developer Preview is now available
- With the early release of the Android 16 Developer Preview, Google believes that it will help OEMs speed up in delivering the latest major updates for phones released in 2025.
- It is said to better align with the launch schedules of new devices.
- Google plans to release two Android API updates including a major release in Q2 and a minor release in Q4.
- The minor release will bring feature updates, optimisations, and bug fixes.
- The developer preview will remain till December after which Android 16 will move in to beta phase from January to April before it finally goes stable.
- The developer preview of Android 16 made available today comes with some key features.
- These include photo picker, health records API, and privacy sandbox.
- With the Photo Picker feature, users can grant access to only select media instead of their phone’s entire library. It will work for both cloud and local storage and alsol enhance the security.
- Google says that its Health Connect app will be able to read and write medical data in FIHR format. However, this feature will require an explicit consent from the user.
- The last feature is Privacy Sandbox. It aims to strengthen the privacy features and protect the user data.
With an early release of developer preview, Google is aiming for an earlier rollout schedule of the Android 16.
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