Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 is here with fixes for battery drain and device freezes

It’s a new year, so why not drop the latest Android beta in the middle of January? Google has announced that it is releasing Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 today.

According to the Mountain View-based firm, the latest QPR focuses on a wide range of stability, performance, and usability issues. This includes fixes that resolve critical system crashes, UI glitches in the notification shade and app drawer, device freezes, and battery management issues that caused devices to ignore charging limits or drain excessively. It also makes improvements to connectivity, including an issue that led to slow Wi-Fi speeds and missed calls.

Here’s a list of the top issues that are addressed in this update:

• Fixed an issue where the app drawer could become unresponsive when scrolling, which required updates to how UI elements were rendered
• Android Auto incorrectly logs extensive screen time, impacting battery life.
• Fixed graphical glitches and performance degradation when interacting with the notification shade in full-screen or PiP modes by improving display rendering.
• Resolved an excessive battery drain issue occurring overnight by optimizing background process power consumption.
• Fixed an issue where the battery charging limit was not being respected, causing devices to charge to 100% instead of the set limit.
• Fixed an issue where users experienced slow internet speeds on Wi-Fi due to a Wi-Fi connection bug.
• Fixed a crash when accessing radio information settings.
• Users experienced a noticeable delay and lack of feedback when switching audio outputs to speakerphone during calls; this was resolved by improving audio routing logic.
• Resolved a display issue causing screen flickering when waking the device from Always-On Display by updating system webview.
• Fixed an issue where certain apps, including Microsoft applications managed by Intune, were crashing on startup due to a compatibility problem with the Android system that has now been resolved.
• Fixed an issue causing inconsistent or failed wireless charging and slow wired charging by improving the power management system.
• Resolved system crashes that occurred when folding a foldable device with an app open by fixing an issue with activity lifecycle management during device state changes.

Android 16 QPR3 will be available for the Pixel 6 and up. If you own a Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, or Pixel 7 Pro, this update will come with the build number CP11.251209.007. For all remaining devices, Google says the build number will be CP11.251209.007.A1.

Along with the fixes and improvements, this update is bringing access to a couple of changes. Late last year, Google rolled out AirDrop support for Quick Share on Pixel 10 devices. Recently, we spotted in an Android Canary build that Google was preparing to give the Pixel 9 series the same support, this update is bringing that support live. Additionally, it appears this update is delivering a visual change to the System settings page, something that we discovered last week.