Android 16 only debuted in June, but another major Android update has just arrived.
It still falls under the Android 16 banner, but there's quite a lot going on in this new software package, including various AI features, new customization options, parental controls, and accessibility improvements.
Below, we've detailed seven of the most important new features that, together, will make this update worth downloading immediately.
However, note that it only applies to eligible Pixel devices for now—if you have a phone from another brand, you'll have to wait longer, and since other companies make their own changes to Android, there's no guarantee you'll get these specific features.
1. AI Notification Summary
If you ever find yourself overwhelmed with messages and other notifications, then Android's new AI-powered notification summaries can help you a lot.
This is essentially identical to the Summarize Notifications feature in iOS. In other words, it will use AI to compress the content of messages and other notifications so you can understand the gist of them at a glance, without having to read all 50 new messages in that group chat or a paragraph of text that could be one sentence.
Of course, as with a similar feature in iOS, this can sometimes lead to errors or missing context, so it remains to be seen how much you'll be able to rely on it. But at the very least, it should give you a clearer idea of how urgently any notification requires your attention.
2. Organization of notification
These AI-powered summaries aren't the only changes made to notifications, as this update also makes them better organized by grouping and muting lower priority notifications like news and promotions.
You'll now see high priority notifications (like messages from contacts) at the top of the notification bar, and below that you'll see grouped notifications for lower priority things that you can tap to expand and read, or just ignore.
3. Improved customization
This latest Android 16 update also brings several customization improvements, including custom icon shapes, so you can make your Home screen icons stand out and more reflect your taste.
Additionally, if you choose a theme for your icons, that theme will now automatically apply to all your apps for a more consistent look. And there are changes to the dark theme: most light apps are now darkened, including those that don't have their own dark theme. That being said, this should also improve your phone's battery life since the dark theme uses less battery.
4. Parental controls
Pixel phones now have a parental controls section in the main settings menu. You can protect these controls with a PIN, and they allow you to limit daily screen time, set downtime schedules so kids can get a good night's sleep without smartphone distractions, and you can limit time spent on certain apps or block apps entirely.
These limits are also easy to adjust at any time – adding additional minutes when a time limit is reached or extending the time before access to the phone or app is granted again.
5. Reason for calling
Call Reason is a new feature that is currently in beta and will be coming soon, but it's worth highlighting for now as it seems useful.
With this, you can mark a call to a saved contact as “urgent” (when using Googlephone app), and if you do this, the recipient will see on their screen that it is an urgent call, and if they miss the call, the call history will also show “urgent”. This way, they will know to answer if possible and call back as soon as possible if they miss the call.
6. Check for Fraud with Circle to Search
Fraud is happening everywhere these days, but there are more and more scam detection tools out there, and one of those new tools is here in Circle to Search.
Now, if you use Circle to search for something that you suspect might be a scam (like a suspicious text message), you'll see an AI overview that will tell you whether it's likely a scam or not and advise you on what steps to take next.
7. Accessibility improvements
This new update also includes various accessibility improvements that may be extremely useful for some people.
These include things like lighter clicks if you have a mouse connected to your Android device; the ability to use Smart Dictation with Gemini to enter and edit text using natural commands such as “make it shorter”; upgrades to Guided Frame, which means it can now use Gemini for a more visual understanding of what's in your camera's field of view; and the ability to launch Voice Access by asking Gemini to launch it.
In addition, Fast Pair is now available for Demant hearing aids, and Starkey hearing aids will receive Fast Pair in early 2026.
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