Google’s subsequent huge Android launch is coming with these AI instruments and UWB options

Final 12 months, Google introduced it was accelerating Android’s launch schedule. Prior to now, Google usually rolled out a single Android launch annually with new APIs for builders. Beginning in 2025, nonetheless, the corporate is shifting to 2 such releases yearly: one main and one minor. We’ve already acquired this 12 months’s main launch with the secure Android 16 replace in June, and the upcoming Android 16 QPR2 replace would be the first minor one. Listed here are among the new options we predict Google will launch in Android 16 QPR2.

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Android 16 QPR2 will let AI brokers management different apps

In my Android 16 evaluate, I highlighted a brand new API known as App Capabilities. This API permits builders to reveal their app’s key options to the system’s default assistant, which may then execute these features on the consumer’s behalf. For instance, a restaurant app may expose an ‘order meals’ perform, permitting customers to put an order with a voice command with out even opening the app.

I posited that the App Capabilities API may flip Google Gemini into a real AI agent by enabling it to carry out way more actions in third-party apps than it presently can. Nonetheless, Google has been quiet about this performance, though the API is out there in Android 16.

This can be as a result of there’s presently no technique to prohibit an assistant’s skill to make use of the API with out disabling the assistant solely, which some customers may discover problematic. Android 16 QPR2 could remedy this drawback by introducing a web page that permits you to handle which assistant apps can carry out actions in your behalf.

Whereas digging by way of the most recent Android Canary launch, I noticed a brand new string within the Settings app for a web page titled “agent management of different apps.” This web page is destined for Android’s privateness dashboard, but it surely’s presently hidden. One other unused string I discovered says the web page will allow you to management which assistants can “carry out actions in your system and in different apps.”

The web page itself doesn’t open but, as Android makes an attempt to load an empty exercise within the system’s Permission Controller app. This exercise is simply enabled if the system is operating SDK model ‘36.1,’ which corresponds to Android 16 QPR2, confirming the function is meant for this launch.

Android 16 QPR2 brings higher parental controls for separated or combined households

The web is filled with content material that’s addicting or inappropriate for minors, which is why Android affords parental controls. By means of Google Household Hyperlink, mother and father can remotely handle the apps and settings on their kids’s units. Nonetheless, this method has a limitation: for a number of mother and father to handle the identical baby’s system, they need to all be in the identical Google household group. This could pose an issue for separated or combined households, because it forces mother and father to comingle their numerous Google apps and household fee strategies. Google could remedy this difficulty with the brand new “native supervision” function in Android 16 QPR2.

Within the first Android Canary launch, Google added a devoted “Parental controls” web page to the primary display screen of the Settings app. For context, these controls are presently situated throughout the Digital Wellbeing settings within the secure model of Android 16. After we first tried to open this new web page, we hit an countless loading display screen, main us to consider the function wasn’t applied but.

Nonetheless, it seems the function is practical, simply not its setup web page. The devoted “Parental Controls” web page turns into accessible in case you first manually allow parental controls, both in the course of the preliminary system setup or through the hyperlink on the backside of the Digital Wellbeing settings.

On the brand new “Parental controls” web page, mother and father will discover a acquainted set of choices. They will set a every day display screen time restrict, schedule downtime that locks apps however nonetheless permits calls, and apply deadlines to particular apps. They will additionally toggle content material filters in suitable internet browsers and search engines like google.

Whereas these settings are usually not new for folks who’ve used Google Household Hyperlink, the tactic of management is. The important thing change is the power to handle these settings utilizing a PIN set immediately on the supervised system. When establishing parental controls in Android 16 QPR2, you’ll be requested to create this PIN and supply a restoration electronic mail. This electronic mail can be utilized in case you overlook the PIN or wish to stop a manufacturing unit reset from eradicating the controls.

Setting a PIN creates a brand new “supervising” profile beneath the hood, which locks sure actions. This PIN is then required on the system to vary settings like every day or app-specific limits, or to disable parental controls solely.

Beforehand, altering these settings on the supervised system required coming into a father or mother’s Google account password. This technique was not solely inconvenient but additionally limiting. As a result of Google household teams can solely have two mother and father, different trusted adults like a babysitter or grandparent couldn’t assist handle a toddler’s system with out being given a extremely delicate password.

A PIN, then again, is far simpler and safer to share. Any trusted grownup who has it could possibly alter the every day restrict, app restrictions, downtime schedule, or content material filters. The PIN can be modified at any time if wanted.

Whereas this new parental controls device is extra versatile, it received’t change Google Household Hyperlink. Household Hyperlink affords further distant settings and monitoring options, so it’ll stay a helpful possibility for a lot of mother and father.

We all know this function is coming in Android 16 QPR2 because of a code change we noticed within the Chromium Gerrit. This transformation provides a ‘separate gating mechanism for on-device filters in Android 16.1+,’ which we will affirm refers to Android 16 QPR2 for 2 causes.

First, Google already confirmed that Android 16 QPR2 will embody an SDK model bump to 36.1 from 36.0. Second, the code checks if a tool’s construct model begins with ‘BP41.’ Since Android 16 QPR1 builds begin with ‘BP31,’ it’s a protected assumption that ‘BP41′ will probably be used for Android 16 QPR2. The code additionally checks for main and minor OS variations of ’16’ and ‘1,’ respectively. If these circumstances are met, the system is flagged as supporting ‘native supervision’ options, which permit ‘non-signed in customers’ to allow internet content material filters in Chrome.

Though Put on OS relies on Android, not each function makes it to the smartwatch platform. This one additionally has utility on smartwatches, nonetheless, which is why Google is working to implement it. We don’t but know if Google will embody it in a mid-cycle Put on OS 6.1 launch or wait till Put on OS 7, although.

Enhanced UWB assist in Android 16 QPR2

Lastly, we’re anticipating Android 16 QPR2 to introduce assist for a brand new model of ultra-wideband (UWB). A code change Google submitted in February added flags for “grapi and uwb updates for 25Q4.” Right here, “grapi” refers back to the Generic Ranging API launched in Android 16, whereas “25Q4” refers back to the fourth quarterly launch of 2025 — i.e., Android 16 QPR2.

Google is making ready to improve Android’s UWB stack with options from the FiRa 3.0 core specification. This new spec provides options like hybrid UWB scheduling, which permits a number of UWB functions and options to run concurrently. It additionally improves knowledge switch by allocating unique airtime to it, boosts the standard and integrity of UWB pulses, and enhances the safety of the protocol’s bodily layer. These enhancements will allow extra subtle UWB use circumstances, like public transport fare assortment, contactless funds, and logical entry management.

These are all of the options we all know are coming in Android 16 QPR2, or not less than are deliberate for that launch. We anticipate among the adjustments we’ve noticed within the Android Canary releases to make their manner into QPR2, however we received’t know for certain till Google releases the betas. Talking of which…

When is the Android 16 QPR2 launch date?

The secure model of Android 16 QPR2 ought to arrive someday in December 2025, with Google presently focusing on a December 2 launch. Nonetheless, the corporate has modified its launch plans up to now, so don’t be stunned if the date shifts. The one factor we might be fairly certain of is an early December launch, as this would be the fourth and ultimate quarterly Android launch of 2025.

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