- First-look images of Android’s upcoming Live Updates function revealed
- Similar feel to iOS Live Activities
- Live Updates is currently only functional in the latest Android 16 QPR1 beta, but should widely rolled out next quarter
Google unveiled its upcoming Live Updates feature at this year’s Google I/O event back in May, and though the Android 16 roll out has begun, it won’t be widely available for another few months.
In the meantime, Google has released new insights to its version of iOS’ Live Activities, including what kind of apps the feature will support.
Android 16’s Live Updates is similar to Live Activities in iOS, which displays timely information and ‘progress-style’ notifications on your lock screen that are updated frequently, meaning you won’t have to open apps to view their status. At the moment, Live Updates is only functional in the latest Android 16 QPR1 beta, but it’s expected to land with the wider Android 16 roll out later in the year.
Since it was first previewed at Google I/O, the functionality and appearance of the feature itself has remained ambiguous, but a recent post on the Android Developers page gives further details on what we can expect from Live Updates – including a first look at the feature in action.
In Android’s post, Live Updates will be used ‘for activities that are ongoing, user-initiated and time sensitive’. Similarly to Live Activities in iOS, Android 16’s Live Updates will support phone calls, food and rideshare tracking, and ‘active navigation’ for apps that show live trip progress such as Google Maps.
Google even goes into detail about how developers should show Live Updates when it comes to time sensitive notifications, using the following explanation:
‘A Live Update is often appropriate for activities that transition between Live Updates and normal notifications. For example, showing a boarding pass notification is appropriate many hours before a user’s flight, but the notification should become a Live Update only when the user has a pressing need, such as when they have arrived at the airport or venue or once boarding has begun. In contrast, a Live Update isn’t appropriate for tracking a package as the user doesn’t need to constantly monitor this’.
Android has its boundaries
While Google has given us the long-awaited visual insight to Live Updates, the company has also been clear with app developers that the feature should not be abused.
In its post, Google has been quite explicit with this, stating ‘Don’t use Live Updates to offer accelerated access to app functionality’. Ads, promotions, chat messages, alerts, upcoming calendar events, and quick access to app features have been deemed as ‘inappropriate uses’.
Now the only key detail that’s missing is an official roll out date for Live Updates. As mentioned above, Live Updates is only available with the latest Android 16 QPR1 beta but Android Authority’s findings hint that apps will start leaning into this function next quarter when the update is expected to go live.