Android 16 Reveals Live Updates

Google recently confirmed that Android 16 will introduce a brand-new feature called Live Updates—a more dynamic way to receive real-time notifications for ongoing activities such as rideshare pickups, food deliveries, and navigation. This feature is powered by progress-centric notifications, a new notification type that includes a progress bar that updates over time, sometimes divided into different segments.

However, while Google has announced Live Updates, they haven’t officially revealed how they will appear in action.

Previously, they speculated that Live Updates might show up as chips in the status bar or as persistent notifications on the always-on display. However, in the current Android 16 Beta 2, the feature remains inactive by default. Although the API for progress-centric notifications is present, the system currently renders them as standard notifications, not fully-functional Live Updates.

By manually enabling Live Updates, They managed to modify a test app to display these notifications as intended. Developer Viktor Mykhailiv created a demo app for progress-centric notifications, but to make it function as a true Live Update, they had to apply several key modifications:

Setting the notification as ongoing (a requirement for Live Updates).
Implementing the new setShortCriticalText API, which defines the brief text shown in the status bar chip.

With these adjustments, the demo app began displaying true Live Updates, giving us the first real glimpse of how the feature functions.

How Live Updates Appear on Android 16

From the testing, Live Updates interact with the UI in several unique ways:

Status Bar: When Live Updates are active, other notification icons are hidden to prioritize the Live Update chip.
Notifications Panel: Live Updates appear at the top of the notifications panel, just below the media player.
Always-On Display (AOD): Unlike standard notifications that appear as small icons, Live Updates are displayed in full, providing essential details at a glance.
Lock Screen: In Android 16, Live Updates are the only notifications that don’t collapse into the new notification shelf, ensuring that they remain visible and accessible.
Interactivity: Tapping the Live Update chip in the status bar expands the notification into a heads-up pop-up, providing more information without needing to open the full notification panel.

Apps can generate Live Updates automatically, as long as they create an ongoing notification with a short summary of critical details. Users, however, retain control over these notifications. If an app misuses Live Updates (e.g., spamming unnecessary updates), you can disable Live Updates for that app by toggling the “Show Live Info” option in Settings.

What’s Next for Live Updates?

Since Android 16 Beta 3 is expected to be the Platform Stability release, it’s unlikely that Live Updates will undergo major UI changes before the next update. If Google intends to fully roll out Live Updates with Android 16, the feature needs to be completely enabled and functional in Beta 3 to allow developers enough time for testing and app integration.

With Live Updates, Android 16 is poised to revolutionize real-time notifications, offering a smarter, more interactive experience for users. As we approach the next beta release, it will be interesting to see if Google refines or expands on this promising feature.