Android 16 Beta 2: edge-to-edge without escape

Beta 2 came out on 13 February 2025, three weeks after Beta 1. It was the last beta before platform stability, and it carried most of the behaviour changes that later defined targeting API 36.

What Beta 2 added

• Camera. Hybrid auto-exposure, precise colour temperature and tint controls, motion photo capture intents, and UltraHDR images in HEIC.
• Graphics. AGSL shaders as colour and blend effects (RuntimeColorFilter, RuntimeXfermode).
• Performance. SystemHealthManager.getCpuHeadroom() and getGpuHeadroom() estimate the CPU and GPU an app or game can still use.
• Key sharing. KeyStoreManager grants and revokes another app’s access to an Android Keystore key, by UID.
• Other. A “Measurement system” setting in regional preferences, a content API for live wallpapers (WallpaperDescription, WallpaperInstance), a MediaQuality package for TV picture and audio profiles, and accessibility APIs for durations in TtsSpan, expandable elements, indeterminate progress bars and tri-state checkboxes.

What Beta 2 changed

• Edge-to-edge. For apps targeting 36, windowOptOutEdgeToEdgeEnforcement is deprecated and disabled.
• Health permissions. For apps targeting 36, BODY_SENSORS gives way to the granular android.permissions.health permissions.
• Abandoned jobs. A job whose JobParameters is garbage collected before jobFinished() stops with STOP_REASON_TIMEOUT_ABANDONED.
• Intent redirection. Hardened by default for every app, whatever its target; removeLaunchSecurityProtection() opts a nested intent out.
• Elegant fonts. elegantTextHeight is deprecated and ignored for apps targeting 36.
• 16 KB pages. A 4 KB-aligned app on a 16 KB device runs in a compatibility mode and the user sees a dialog; android:pageSizeCompat controls it.

Beta 2.1, a bug-fix update, followed on 27 February. It fixed devices that sometimes could not enter Doze and unexpected reboots.