Android 16 Prepares a Notification Panel Redesign & New App Minimize Button

Google is actively working on the latest Android 16 software version and recently it has released Beta 3 which includes a few notable features such as a button to minimize apps in floating windows and the lock screen clock to the notification panel. 

Google with the Android 16 beta 3 introduces a convenient minimize button to the header bar of applications in Android’s desktop windowing mode, it will enhance users’ multitasking experience. 

The newly introduced desktop windowing capabilities for Android will enable tablet users to run multiple apps simultaneously for freeform Windows. Initially, Google released freeform windowing with Android 15 QPR1, however, it didn’t include a minimize button in this header bar that forces users to close a window to remove it from view, which also closes the app. Now Google has fixed this issue by adding a minimize button to the header bar with the new Android 16 Beta 3 and it works seamlessly as expected. 

Google is also planning to place the lock screen clock on more surfaces, including the top of the notifications panel. However, this feature is not available yet in the current beta, but reportedly it’s expected to arrive in one of the quarterly releases. Noticeably, the clock only appears in the new split notification panel and it’s unclear whether Google will bring it to the existing combined one. 

Google is almost close to releasing the stable Android 16 version, while Samsung is still working on expanding the stable Android 15 to its older Galaxy devices. To match the Android 16 timeline, the Korean tech giant should speed up the Android 15 rollout. Currently, there’s no official information regarding the Android 16-based One UI 8 yet, so it’s hard to predict the release at least for now. Apart from this, these two features are part of Android 16, so it might be possible for Samsung could adopt these with the One UI 8.