More Android phones will soon support AI-powered notification summaries. The feature, which is bundled in the latest version of Android 16, is only available to Pixel devices for now, but its inclusion in the update suggests that it will arrive on third-party phones next.
Google first launched notification summaries for Pixel phones last month. Unlike Apple’s version of the feature for iOS, Google is limiting it to chat apps, meaning you won’t see any wonky AI-generated news summaries just yet. Google says it will condense longer messages and group conversations into shorter snippets that you can view at a glance.
Additionally, Google is launching a new notification organizer that will automatically group and silence “lower-priority” notifications related to promotions, news, and alerts from social platforms. Some other updates coming to Android 16 include the ability to personalize your home screen with custom icon shapes and themes. You can also use a new expanded dark mode feature, which automatically darkens apps even if they don’t natively support the theme.
Google is consolidating its parental controls within the Android Settings menu as well, allowing parents to set screen time, control app usage, and create downtime schedules from one place. Other features rolling out across Android include a way to spot scams using Circle to Search, as well as an update to the Phone by Google app that lets you alert a family member or friend that a call is urgent, but you and the caller need to be using Android devices with Phone by Google set as your default calling app for it to work.
There are quite a few accessibility updates launching across devices, too. Google announced that it’s making its Expressive Captions feature — which attempts to capture the intensity of real-time speech — available to everyone on YouTube. This option will be available on videos in English that were uploaded after October.
Expressive Captions on Android devices will also detect and display someone’s emotions during a livestream, tagging them with emotions like “[joyful]” or “[sad].” Other tweaks include the ability to activate voice dictation with Android’s TalkBack screen reader by using a two-finger double-tap gesture in Gboard. You can also start using Voice Access, which lets you control your phone with your voice, by saying, “Hey Google, start Voice Access,” instead of having to tap your screen.
Google is launching Fast Pair for hearing aids as well, which will let you connect Bluetooth LE hearing aids to your Android device with one tap. This feature is launching on Demant hearing aids first before rolling out to Starkey devices in early 2026.
You can find a full list of updates coming to Android 16 and Android devices on Google’s website.
Source Link Google is getting ready to launch AI-powered notification summaries on more Android devices
The latest update for Android 16 has arrived, marking the official end to Google’s annual release schedule. Compared to the major Android 16 launch in June, the new 16 QPR2 release is a minor update that expands features for notifications, icons, calling screens, and more, and signals the start of Google’s long-awaited plans to release more frequent OS updates.
The accelerated release timeline addresses frustrations with Google’s previous yearly update schedule, which left even relatively new third-party Android phones waiting months or longer to get updates that were already available on the latest Pixel devices. Google announced the change in October 2024, saying that releasing more frequent platform updates “will help to drive faster innovation in apps and devices.”
These small biannual SDK releases will be the model going forward, alongside bringing major releases forward — with Android 16 having launched in Q2 instead of Q3, for example — and the usual quarterly Android feature updates. By moving to an earlier, more frequent release schedule for developer previews and general release rollouts, third-party phone makers will have more time to prepare their latest devices to launch with the latest version of Android. Google’s Pixel lineup will still be first in line to receive updates, but it could mean that other Android devices won’t be far behind, increasing the number of devices that support new features and giving developers more reasons to use them in their apps.
Source Link Android 16’s latest update ushers in a more frequent release schedule
Android users will soon have an option to add an “urgent” indicator to their calls, which shows up on the receiver’s incoming call screen and in their call history if they don’t pick up. It’s a new feature in beta testing in the Phone by Google app, Call Reason, that will only work for people who are saved in your Contacts list already, and if you both use Google’s default calling app on Android phones.
If you often send calls to voicemail (or your friends don’t pick up your calls), this feature allows you to tell each other when you’re calling about something important, or need to talk right away, without sending a separate text.
Right now, Call Reason is just for marking calls as “urgent,” but it would also be nice to see more options down the line, like a custom message or emoji to show why you’re calling. Since the Call Reason message also shows up in your call history, it could also be a helpful reminder to call someone back about something specific if you can’t pick up in the moment.
Call Reason is rolling out as a beta feature, and availability will vary by phone manufacturer. You can check for the update on your phone by tapping your profile icon on the Google Play Store, “Manage apps & devices,” and “Check for updates.” You can also double-check that you’re using Phone by Google for your calls by going into your Settings app, then “Apps” and “Default apps.”
Source Link Android’s new ‘Call Reason’ flags important calls before you even pick up
India’s Department of Telecommunications is giving phone manufacturers 90 days to comply with an order to pre-install a state-owned app on new phones and push it to existing phones through software updates, reports Reuters. The government order was privately sent out to phone manufacturers on November 28th, according to Reuters, including Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi.
In August, Russia issued a similar order requiring phone manufacturers to preload a state-backed messenger app, Max.
In this case, the state-owned Sanchar Saathi app is already available on the App Store and Google Play Store, but this order would make it mandatory and prevent it from being disabled or deleted. The app includes features for blocking and tracking lost or stolen phones based on their IMEI, and reporting suspected fraud messages.
While iOS users still make up a small slice of the pie in India, Apple’s sales in the region hit a record high of $9 billion in September. Similarly, Google began offering direct online sales of Pixel phones in India earlier this year, and both companies have increased local manufacturing of their mobile devices in recent years. Apple and Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Source Link India is ordering Apple and other phone makers to preinstall a state-owned app
Google and Amazon Web Services are teaming up to offer a link between their cloud services, as reported earlier by Reuters. With this tool, companies can establish a private connection between AWS and Google Cloud within “minutes,” giving online businesses a possible safety net if either of the providers experiences an outage.
Though the tool is positioned as a way for customers to easily gain access to services from multiple cloud providers, Google says it comes with a “proactive monitoring system that detects and reacts to failures before customers suffer from their consequences.” It also offers a coordinated maintenance system designed to “avoid overlaps” that could impact service.
In October, AWS experienced a major outage that took down a swath of services, including Fortnite, Alexa, and Snapchat. Both Microsoft Azure and Cloudflare suffered outages in the following weeks, raising concerns about the risks of relying on just a handful of major internet infrastructure providers. AWS plans on rolling out a link to Microsoft Azure next year.
As noted in Google’s blog post, companies trying to connect cloud service providers would have to “manually set up complex networking components, including physical connections and equipment” in a process that could take weeks or months. Now, the two cloud providers say companies can quickly establish connectivity between cloud providers using their cloud console or API.
Source Link Amazon and Google’s new cloud link could make it easier to deal with outages
Going home for the holidays isn’t all turkey, holiday decorations, and political arguments discussions. It also comes with requests for tech support and questions like “Why does my computer do this?” and “I read about this AI – what is that?”
Think of it as an opportunity rather than a burden. If you’re like many people, you get tech support calls from frustrated parents or grandparents all year long. This is your chance to make sure things are set up so that, when you do get that call in a month or two, you can more easily fix things – or help your parents fix it themselves.
It’s important to keep computer …
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Source Link How to help your parents with their tech over the holidays