The Android 16 Beta for Pixel devices is scheduled to start in January and some key dates have emerged. Compared to previous years, Android 16 is set to arrive in Q2 of 2025, with Google moving up the first Developer Preview from February to November.
A recent discussion among Google employees revealed some upcoming development dates, including Wednesday, January 22 as when “changes are due” for Android 16 Beta 2. Similarly, Wednesday, February 19 is when “Beta 3 changes [are] due.” These dates are not the rollout dates for the public, but rather just internal Google deadlines.
The Android 16 Beta Releases remain on track with the monthly schedule Google set in November, which includes Beta 1, an initial beta-quality release, and Beta 2, an incremental Beta-quality release. Beta 3 is the first Platform Stability milestone including final APIs and behaviors, and Play publishing also opens.
The upcoming beta releases will include near-final builds for final testing, with Beta 4 and possibly more builds released before the final release. Google is targeting a March 12 release date for Beta 3.
The Android 16 Beta development process is moving ahead, with the first public beta release expected in the coming weeks. While the exact release date is not yet known, the January 22 date does not necessarily mean that’s when we’ll see Android Android 16 Beta 1 roll out.
Android releases are typically locked down and finalized weeks ahead of their release, which means the build number for 16 DP1 and DP2 were roughly four weeks before the release date.
For now, it seems that the Android 16 Beta development is on track, and we can expect more updates and releases in the coming weeks and months.