Android 16 is now available for early testers

Google has fixed america a glimpse astatine what’s coming successful the adjacent large mentation of Android. The first preview merchandise for Android 16 is disposable for developers starting today, which expands the photograph room and aesculapian data-sharing capabilities successful apps. A change moving Android’s merchandise timeline guardant was announced past month, which could assistance third-party Android phones released successful 2025 debar waiting months to person the latest large updates.

Android Developer caput Matthew McCullough says, “This is the commencement of Android having much predominant API releases arsenic portion of our effort to thrust faster innovation successful apps and devices.”

The preview disposable contiguous allows developers to embed Android’s photograph picker — the paper that lets users prime circumstantial images and videos they privation to stock — straight into their apps. This should marque sharing media with apps much seamless without granting them entree to your full instrumentality oregon unreality retention library. It besides includes the latest mentation of Privacy Sandbox, Google’s in-development replacement for Android’s advertizing ID.

A preview of the Health Connect app “contains an aboriginal mentation of APIs supporting wellness records” that “allows apps to work and constitute aesculapian records successful FHIR format,” according to Google. This could fto apps and aesculapian devices stock accusation and aesculapian records (with explicit consent from the user) the mode wearables and fittingness trackers already do, mirroring a akin Apple Health feature connected iPhones.

Judging by Google’s projected merchandise timeline, the archetypal nationalist beta for Android 16 volition beryllium disposable successful January 2025. A last nationalist merchandise is expected sometime aft April, apt lining up with Google’s yearly I/O lawsuit (which was held connected May 14th this year), wherever the institution usually announces its latest Android updates and merchandise features.