The Android development team has announced the second beta of Android 16, adding updates to the camera and media, along with several behavior changes.
One of the camera updates is the ability to use hybrid auto exposure, where the user controls some aspects of exposure and the auto-exposure (AE) algorithm handles the rest. Users will be able to control ISO + AE and exposure time + AE. Currently, users have to either fully control it manually or fully rely on the AE algorithm.
Other camera updates include the ability to make fine color temperature and tint adjustments, the addition of motion photo capture intent actions, and support for UltraHDR images in the HEIC file format.
Android 16 will also add RuntimeColorFilter and RuntimeXfermode, which allows users to add graphic effects to draw calls, such as Threshold, Sepia, and Hue Saturation.
Some of the behavior changes in this beta include that developers can no longer opt-out of edge to edge, new API targets for health and fitness permissions, default security hardening against intent redirection attacks, and more.
Android 16 is planned for a 2025 Q2 launch, and is expected to reach platform stability in March. This will be the only Android version releasing this year that will include feature changes; another release with new developer APIs, optimizations, and bug fixes is expected in Q4.
When Android 16 reaches platform stability next month, the final SDK/NDK APIs, internal APIs, and app-facing system behaviors will be delivered, providing several months before the final release for developers to test apps for compatibility.
Developers can enroll supported Pixel devices to get this update over-the-air, or can use the Android Emulator in Android Studio to test out the latest beta.
More details on what’s new in the second beta of Android 16 are available here.
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