The first beta of Android 16 is out now, ready for developers and enthusiasts eying new tricks on their supported Pixel hardware. There is not much to unpack, save for live updates (a watered-down take on Apple’s Live Activities system), support for the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec, and camera night mode activation facility in apps.
The most important change, however, is what Google calls app adaptivity. In a nutshell, app windows will be freely resizable for all screen sizes, and in every orientation.
This may not sound like much, but for a platform where screen size and aspect ratio differ between each brand, the app’s UX quickly becomes a non-uniform hell. On top of that, varied form factors such as phones, tablets, foldables, and desktop environments on large screens (think, Samsung DeX), only complicate the situation for developers.
The compromise has either been ugly letterboxing, or a stretched-out app interface that looks horrible. Some brands, such as Samsung and Oppo, devised their own custom tools for freely resizing app windows, but nothing universal has been available for Android enthusiasts.
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Google has been observing user frustrations for a while now. Ever since Android 12L arrived on the scene, Google has supercharged its efforts to improve the large-screen experience in apps. With Android 16, we are finally close to the nirvana, and in a rather heavy-handed fashion from the OS overlord.
“Android 16 is phasing out the ability for apps to restrict screen orientation and resizability on large screens,” says the company. Adaptive apps are the future, while those trying to enforce limits on scaling and orientation change will no longer be able to apply such restrictions.
In a nutshell, irrespective of the form factor or display size, apps will automatically conform to the available screen real estate. The adaptivity rules will be enforced across Android and any other supported platform where you can access them natively, which includes:
- Inner displays of large screen foldables
- Tablets, including desktop windowing
- Desktop environments, including Chromebooks
And here is the best part: Users will have control over how they want to see apps unfold on their device’s screen. Google says Android 16 will offer an opt-in approach to let users stick with an app’s default behavior for aspect ratio adjustments.
Google admits that developers might face problems such as “buttons going off screen, overlapping content, or screens with camera viewfinders may need adjustments,” and to that end, the shift will be gradual.
In the first phase of transition this year, developers will be able to skip the adaptivity rules for their apps. But in 2026, these rules become the platform-wide norm without any opt-out facility.
