Here’s all the new features for Pixels in Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1

Google released the first beta of Android 16’s second quarterly platform release today. We installed Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 to find out what’s new, so read on if you’re trying to decide whether it’s worth installing on your own device or you simply want to know what’s coming in the future!

For this release, Google has blessedly offered a list of changes, giving us some ideas of where to start looking for these hot new features. Here’s what the company says to expect in QPR2 Beta 1:

• UI, System Experience, and Accessibility
  • Expanded Dark Theme
  • Auto-Themed App Icons
  • Interactive Chooser Sessions
  • Smoother Android Migrations
  • PDF Document Annotation and Editing
  • Display Topology API
  • Device-aware ViewConfiguration
  • Granular Haptic Feedback Control
  • Quick Settings Tile Categories
• Media & Audio
  • IAMF Decoding Support
  • Personal Audio Sharing in Output Switcher
  • New AAudio APIs
  • HDR/SDR Brightness Slider
  • Connectivity
  • Companion Device Management Enhancements
  • MediaRouter Network Privacy Improvements
• Privacy & Security
  • Secure Lock Device
  • Phone Theft Protection Toggle
• Developer Productivity
  • Widget Engagement Metrics
  • Early Warnings for 16KB Page Size Compatibility
  • Enhanced Profiling
  • More Robust Multi-Display Testing

We’re starting to dig in even deeper ourselves, and will be regularly updating this post with our discoveries.

Forced themed icons

Google introduced a Themed Icon feature in Android 13 that allows the system to tint app icons using your wallpaper’s dominant color. The only problem is that developers needed to support this feature by providing monochromatic version of their apps’ icons. Many developers did not do this, resulting in messy home screens with inconsistent app icons.

Fortunately, Google says that Android 16 QPR2 can “automatically generate a themed icon for your app if you don’t provide a dedicated one.” The OS will apply a “color filtering algorithm to your existing launcher icon to render it in a monochrome style, allowing it to integrate with the user’s chosen theme.” Indeed, after installing QPR2 Beta 1 on my Pixel, we noticed that all app icons were now themed regardless of whether a monochromatic icon was supplied.

Lock screen widget support for phones

Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 also brings lock screen widget support to phones, after debuting on tablets last year with Android 15 QPR1. For more details on this new feature, as well as a hands-on demo showing it off, check out our dedicated piece.

Identity Check expanded to more apps

Google is bringing a major upgrade to Android’s Identity Check feature in Android 16 QPR2. The anti-theft feature will now protect more of your apps. When Identity Check is turned on in Android 16 QPR2, apps will no longer be allowed to accept your screen lock credentials (PIN, pattern, or password) when invoking biometric prompt. For more details, check out this article that goes in-depth on Android’s Identity Check expansion.

Expanded dark theme

Google mentioned in its blog post that Android 16 QPR2 adds a new “expanded option under dark theme” that allows the system to “intelligently invert the UI of apps that appear light despite users having selected the dark theme.” We’ve been tracking this feature for a while and actually saw it go live already in the July 2025 Android Canary release, but Google is making it official today and announcing its release in Android 16 QPR2.

The expanded dark theme is aimed at creating a “more consistent user experience for users who have low vision, photosensitivity, or simply those who prefer a dark system-wide appearance.” When enabled, the system uses apps’ isLightTheme attribute to determine whether to apply inversion. “If your app inherits from one of the standard DayNight themes, this is done automatically for you, otherwise make sure to declare isLightTheme=”false” in your dark theme to ensure your app is not inadvertently inverted.”

Google says that sStandard Android Views, Composables, and WebViews will be inverted, while custom rendering engines like Flutter will not.” Furthermore, the system will also automatically darken your app’s splash screen and adjust the status bar color for contrast. This is intended only as an accessibility feature, hence Google recommends developers implement a native dark theme if they haven’t already.

SDR/HDR brightness slider

Under Settings > Display & touch in Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1, there’s a new “enhanced HDR brightness” page, which actually went live in the first Android Canary release last month. On this page, you can control the (perceived) brightness of HDR content or stop the screen from becoming brighter entirely when HDR content is present. If you hate HDR flashbangs at night while scrolling Instagram or other social media, this feature is for you.

Graphical apps support in the Linux Terminal

In Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1, the Linux Terminal app has added a “Display” activity that pipes display output from the underlying Linux VM to the Android host. This enables you to run full desktop Linux apps on your Android device. As we demonstrated earlier, you can run graphical Linux apps like GIMP, LibreOffice, Chromium, and more thanks to this new capability. You can even install a full desktop environment like XFCE and run apps that way. Check out our hands-on piece for a full tutorial on how to set this up.

Secure Lock Device

Android 16 QPR2 introduces a new “system-level security state” called “Secure Lock Device.” When Secure Lock Device is enabled (which can happen remotely via Find Hub), Google says that “the device locks immediately and requires the primary PIN, pattern, or password to unlock, heightening security.” Furthermore, “notifications and quick affordances on the lock screen will be hidden, and biometric unlock may be temporarily disabled.”

Phone Theft Protection toggle

As we previously reported, Google will soon add a toggle in Android 16 QPR2 that lets you disable Failed Authentication Lock. The company says that “a user-facing toggle is being added to Theft Protection Settings, allowing users to enable or disable the ‘Failed Authentication Lock’ security feature (introduced in Android 15) that automatically locks down your device after multiple failed login attempts.”

This toggle is not yet live in Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1.

90:10 split screen ratio

Android 16 QPR2 Beta 1 brings the long-awaited 90:10 split screen ratio, which is heavily inspired by (but not directly based on) OPPO’s Boundless View (also known as Open Canvas on OnePlus devices). Again, this is another one of those features that first went live in the Android Canary release, so we’re not too surprised to see it here. Still, it’s good to know that this feature is planned for launch in QPR2.

This article will be updated as we find new features. Check back later for more information!