What you need to know
- The findings in Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 indicate that Google is working on adding “rich continuous notifications.”
- This feature is similar to Apple’s Dynamic Island and OnePlus variants, as “ongoing notifications” occupy a chip next to the user’s clock in the status bar.
- Further details were not available. However, this feature may debut in Android 16.
Google has rolled out the latest Android 15 QPR1 beta to testers, and the code has clues about upcoming features.
A post by Mishaal Rahman (Android Authority) reports that Google is working on a new style of alerts titled “Rich Continuous Notifications.” Rahman says it’s a new API, but there’s little to understand about it. One thing we could easily see from the latest Android 15 QPR beta is the design Google might pursue. Presumably, this API will allow app authors to manage things like the color of this consistent “ongoing” notification chip next to the device’s clock.
The location of this chip reflects where users can currently find app notification icons and phones on Android. Plus, it just looks like it’s taking up space between the watch and the phone’s punch-hole selfie camera. It’s not exactly like Apple’s Dynamic Island, but it does remind me of it.
It’s also unclear what apps Google plans to support with this “continuous notifications” feature. Rahman was able to use code to force some apps to appear in the status bar. From his example, if When a food order arrives from Uber, the app’s logo appears on the tip along with the estimated pick-up/delivery time. Examples of this included one for air travel, displaying the company logo and boarding dates.
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Rahman speculates that tapping on this ongoing notification chip could result in “some kind of dialog provided by the app.” The dialog could contain information about the chip’s display or something else entirely. There are still a lot of unknowns, especially considering it was discovered in the Android 15 QPR1 beta. Moreover, Rahman does not doubt that this will debut in December with the expected feature removal.
Rahman claims that this could be made available to users during the Android 16 launch. Additionally, a chip similar to Google’s idea has arrived via OnePlus’ OxygenOS 14. The goal was to provide users with up-to-date information at a glance, no matter which apps are taking up space. It expands into a box with rounded corners when you tap it, but it doesn’t consume the selfie camera like Apple’s version does.
Speaking of Android 16, Google seems to be preparing to introduce a new feature called “Mode” to replace the legendary DND (Do Not Disturb). A recent beta showed that through these “modes” users can create different versions with specific device behavior. The options that appear suggest that users can create their own icons, names, and activation triggers. Once enabled, this DND variant will appear next to the connection icon in the status bar.
This change to DND was previously spotted in a separate beta, but it was called “Priority Mode.”
Yesterday (October 25th), Android 15 QPR1 Beta 3 arrived for registered Pixel testers. This update included a number of fixes for reported system crashes and flip phone screen issues.
