Your Pixel’s big Android 16 QPR1 update brings more than just Material 3 Expressive

Google just announced the September 2025 Pixel Drop, bringing a fresh look and new features to the entire Pixel lineup with the Android 16 QPR1 update. While the announcement highlighted major changes like the revamped UI based on Google’s Material 3 Expressive design, it glossed over several other significant additions. For example, the update also introduces a preview of Google’s DeX-like desktop mode, Live Updates, and much more. Here’s a look at every new feature coming in the Android 16 QPR1 update!

A major design overhaul with Material 3 Expressive

Android 16 QPR1 brings Google’s biggest design overhaul in years. Material 3 Expressive brings new physics-based animations, fresh app components, stylish color themes, background blur effects, and much more. When you update your Pixel phone to Android 16 QPR1, you’ll see changes throughout the UI. Here are a few things to look out for:

• Background blur: The notifications shade, Quick Settings panel, app drawer, recents menu, and keyguard now show a blurred version of your wallpaper instead of an opaque background.

• Lock screen: The lock screen has a cleaner, more compact layout.

• Physics-based animations: Swiping away notifications and recent tasks will have a springy animation. Long-pressing the power button will show a squeeze animation when you summon the voice assistant.
• Settings: The homepage now has colorful icons, each menu item is placed within separate cards, right-facing arrows indicate subpages, and page headers appear at the top by default. Also, Android’s messy sound settings have finally been organized.

• Status bar: The text clock is now larger and bolder, the battery icon has been redesigned, the Wi-Fi and mobile data icons are now segmented, and the mobile data icon has been moved to the left of Wi-Fi. The signal bar for your second SIM is no longer shown beside the first SIM; instead, it’s shown below, similar to iOS.

• Wallpaper & Style: The Wallpaper & Style app has a new look. You can swipe back and forth between your lock screen and home screen options rather than tapping touch targets near the top of the screen.

• Volume panel & media output: The volume panel is now less bubbly, while the output switcher has thinner sliders with handles and rearranged items.

Android 16 QPR1 also introduces several quality-of-life changes to the Quick Settings panel. The tiles are now resizable, allowing you to shrink them from their default 2×1 size to a more compact 1×1. Toggling Bluetooth and the current Mode now only takes a single tap. The tile editor screen is more organized, grouping tiles into categories and providing one-click shortcuts for adding or removing them. Finally, the brightness slider features a new, less bubbly design.

A Samsung DeX-like desktop mode experience

Android 16 QPR1 brings Google’s long-awaited Desktop Mode experience to Pixels. If you have a Pixel phone that supports display output over USB-C (meaning the Pixel 8 and later), you’ll get a desktop-like interface on external displays, complete with a taskbar, a status bar, and freeform app windows. You can freely move, resize, and snap these windows to the side, much like on Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

This new Desktop Mode isn’t enabled by default on Pixel phones. It’s currently in developer preview, which is why Google didn’t highlight it in today’s announcement. To try it out, you need to go to Settings > System > Developer options and toggle ‘Enable desktop experience features’.

After rebooting your phone, you can go to Settings > Connected devices > External display to manage the text size and layout of your displays.

In contrast, Desktop Mode is enabled by default on tablets, where it extends the desktop windowing feature introduced in Android 15 QPR1. The tablet screen can act as a second monitor, allowing you to seamlessly move app windows and the mouse cursor between it and the external display.

While Android’s Desktop Mode still lacks some features compared to traditional desktop platforms, it’s a massive improvement over what we had before. Hopefully, Google will release a more fleshed-out version in next year’s Android 17 update.

Live Updates

Android 16 QPR1 introduces Live Updates, Android’s answer to iOS’s Live Activities. These are special notifications designed for prominent placement on the status bar, lock screen, and AOD. In the status bar, they appear as small, expandable chips. On the lock screen, they remain expanded even when other notifications are minimized. They are even fully displayed in a wireframe on the Always-On Display (AOD) while other notifications are hidden.

Auracast support

Pixel phones now have proper Auracast support in Android 16 QPR1. While Google highlighted this in its announcement, the key takeaway is that Bluetooth audio sharing is now fully enabled on compatible Pixels. You no longer need to manually toggle it in Developer Options, as was required in the stable Android 16 release. Instead, you can start broadcasting your phone’s audio by going to Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences > Audio sharing or tune into nearby broadcasts via Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences > Nearby audio streams.

Guests can join a broadcast by scanning a QR code from the host. Alternatively, the host can use the Fast Pair pop-up to connect nearby compatible audio devices.

Auracast support is still somewhat limited. Google says it’s only available on the Pixel 8 and later, along with select flagships from Samsung, Xiaomi, and POCO. You’ll also need a compatible audio device, with Samsung, Sony, and Google currently offering a few options.

New features for tablets

While Android 16 QPR1 doesn’t introduce many tablet-specific features, the update is still an exciting one for tablet users. After all, tablets benefit from all the changes mentioned above, including the Material 3 Expressive design overhaul and the improved Desktop Mode. In addition, tablets will also receive the following three features:

• The taskbar overflow makes it easier to open recent apps:
  • In Android 16 QPR1, you can quickly open recently launched apps right from the taskbar thanks to the new overflow button. Tapping the button opens a horizontally scrolling carousel with previews of your recent apps.

• A taskbar shortcut for pinning apps:
  • A new shortcut to quickly pin/unpin apps from the taskbar has been added. A “pin to taskbar” shortcut will appear in the context menu when you long-press an app icon in the app drawer. Similarly, an “unpin from taskbar” shortcut will appear in the context menu when you long-press an app icon on the taskbar. Note that these shortcuts will only appear when you’re in Desktop Mode, either on a connected display or the internal display on a tablet.

• A new three-finger tap gesture for touchpads:

Other changes

Here are some other, more minor changes we spotted in Android 16 QPR1:

• A more intuitive recents screen:
  • The recents screen now shows a dropdown menu for every app in Android 16 QPR1, making actions like split-screen more discoverable. There’s now a pill-shaped button in the top left of cards in the recents screen that you tap to expand the menu.

• More space for your apps:
  • The size of the At a Glance widget has been reduced in Android 16 QPR1, freeing up an extra row on the home screen for your widgets and apps. When you boot up the update, you’ll see a message that reads, “Enjoy more space for apps. Good news! Your home screen has a new layout, which means there’s space for more apps & widgets.”

• You can now easily check your enrolled fingerprints:
  • Android 16 QPR1 adds a “check enrolled fingerprints” button in Android’s Fingerprint Unlock settings. Tapping this button opens a screen that asks you to scan a finger. When you scan a finger, the matching fingerprint will be highlighted.
• Less intrusive phone call notifications:

• A more useful screen magnifier:
• A new clock customization option:
  • A hidden option lets you switch between “Rounded” and “Sharp” font styles for the default lock screen clock. To trigger this, tap the lock screen clock preview in the Wallpaper & style app. You should see a toast message that reads, “Style changed to [round|sharp]. Tap again to undo.”

• Faster dismissals of recent apps:
• More storage for the Linux Terminal app: