Google rolls out Android 16 updates with AI-powered tools, new customisation options and expanded accessibility features
Google is giving Android its biggest shift in years, with new AI features and faster update cycles landing first on Pixel phones.
- Dec 3, 2025,
- Updated Dec 3, 2025 10:47 AM IST
Google has begun releasing a major wave of Android 16 updates, introducing new AI tools, device controls and accessibility upgrades. The new features roll out first to eligible Pixel devices and mark Google’s move toward releasing Android improvements several times a year instead of relying on a single annual update.
Android 16 introduces AI-powered notification summaries that condense long messages and group chats into short, digestible highlights. A new Notification organiser automatically groups and silences less important alerts, such as promotional updates, news pushes and social notifications, giving users a cleaner notification panel.
The update also expands personalisation options, letting users apply custom icon shapes, themed icons and an automatic darkening feature for apps that lack a native dark mode. Parents get a new Settings-based Parental Controls hub to set screen time limits, manage downtime and restrict app usage for their children.
These features begin rolling out this week on Pixel devices running Android 16.
Alongside the main update, Google is releasing additional Android features that will be available more broadly. A new beta feature called Call Reason lets users flag calls to saved contacts as urgent, with recipients seeing this label on the incoming call screen. If the call is missed, the urgent tag remains visible in the call history.
Expressive Captions, another new feature, displays emotion-based tags such as [sad] or [joyful] on video messages, social media posts and other content when the sound is muted. Google says this helps users understand the full emotional context without audio.
To help users avoid unwanted group chats, Android will now alert them when an unknown number adds them to a group, showing key group details and offering quick options to reply, leave or block.
Chrome on mobile is also getting improved Pinned tabs, bringing it in line with the desktop version by keeping pinned pages fixed at the front of the browser.
Circle to Search is gaining the ability to analyse suspicious messages. After activating the feature, an AI overview highlights whether the message appears to be a scam.
On the accessibility front, Google is upgrading the Pixel camera’s Guided Frame. Instead of simply confirming when a face is in the frame, it now gives descriptive scene information such as “one girl with a yellow T-shirt sits on the sofa and looks at the dog.”
Voice Access users can now launch hands-free controls by saying, “Hey Google, start Voice Access,” eliminating the need to tap the device.
Google is also introducing Fast Pair support for hearing aids, beginning with models from Demant, the parent company of Oticon, Sonic and Bernafon.
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Google has begun releasing a major wave of Android 16 updates, introducing new AI tools, device controls and accessibility upgrades. The new features roll out first to eligible Pixel devices and mark Google’s move toward releasing Android improvements several times a year instead of relying on a single annual update.
Android 16 introduces AI-powered notification summaries that condense long messages and group chats into short, digestible highlights. A new Notification organiser automatically groups and silences less important alerts, such as promotional updates, news pushes and social notifications, giving users a cleaner notification panel.
The update also expands personalisation options, letting users apply custom icon shapes, themed icons and an automatic darkening feature for apps that lack a native dark mode. Parents get a new Settings-based Parental Controls hub to set screen time limits, manage downtime and restrict app usage for their children.
These features begin rolling out this week on Pixel devices running Android 16.
Alongside the main update, Google is releasing additional Android features that will be available more broadly. A new beta feature called Call Reason lets users flag calls to saved contacts as urgent, with recipients seeing this label on the incoming call screen. If the call is missed, the urgent tag remains visible in the call history.
Expressive Captions, another new feature, displays emotion-based tags such as [sad] or [joyful] on video messages, social media posts and other content when the sound is muted. Google says this helps users understand the full emotional context without audio.
To help users avoid unwanted group chats, Android will now alert them when an unknown number adds them to a group, showing key group details and offering quick options to reply, leave or block.
Chrome on mobile is also getting improved Pinned tabs, bringing it in line with the desktop version by keeping pinned pages fixed at the front of the browser.
Circle to Search is gaining the ability to analyse suspicious messages. After activating the feature, an AI overview highlights whether the message appears to be a scam.
On the accessibility front, Google is upgrading the Pixel camera’s Guided Frame. Instead of simply confirming when a face is in the frame, it now gives descriptive scene information such as “one girl with a yellow T-shirt sits on the sofa and looks at the dog.”
Voice Access users can now launch hands-free controls by saying, “Hey Google, start Voice Access,” eliminating the need to tap the device.
Google is also introducing Fast Pair support for hearing aids, beginning with models from Demant, the parent company of Oticon, Sonic and Bernafon.
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