February 19, 2026
As the Android 16 stable release happened in June 2025, which focused on new features like the desktop mode, new lockscreen settings and new AI themed icons for the home screen, it’s time for Google to finally open the Android 17 beta program. With the codename “Cinnamon bun”, this beta of Android 17 is accessible to every Google phone starting from the Pixel 6 to the Pixel 10, the Pixel Tablet and the Pixel Fold. As Google claimed, Android 16 was about “Intelligence and integration”, building the foundations for Android 17’s adaptability and polish. My name is Evan Koehler, and I tested the new Android 17 beta on my Google Pixel 9. Let me tell you what's new in this version.
Key new features
- Required screen adaptability
The biggest change of this first beta is the required screen adaptability. Developers are now required to work on their app’s responsiveness, not only from one phone screen to another, but also from phones to tablets, and foldables too.
In previous Android versions, developers could opt-out from this adaptability for screens bigger than 600dp (tablets and foldables), which basically meant “This app was made for phones, and might not be displayed correctly on other devices”. This usually led to poorly rendered apps on foldable phones, or apps being displayed on one screen orientation only.
With this beta, all apps, except games, will need to be responsive, allowing the user to scale, resize and change the orientation of the app window. This completes Android 16’s desktop mode, as most apps were unusable on big 16:9 screens.
- Dynamic camera sessions
Have you ever seen apps that use your phone camera have a small lag when switching from the photo to the video mode ? This comes from a platform limitation that the dynamic camera session aims to fix. In older versions, every time you switched from the photo to the video mode, or every time you switched from the standard lens to the ultra-wide one, the app had to perform some kind of hard-reset by killing the current camera session, clearing the RAM, and building a whole new session. This was resource-hungry and caused a half-second black screen while this hard reset was made.
The new developer-facing CameraCaptureSession API helps reduce lags when switching from photo to video mode. This will help developers make their app smoother when using the camera component.
- UI Tweaks
Beta testers might have been disappointed to see there were not many new UI tweaks in this beta. Even if it was not the goal of this new version, Google still added a few changes here and there to keep fans engaged while waiting for the next build:
- Pixel launcher search bar
Before the new Pill update of Android 16, the Google search bar on the bottom of the Pixel screen had no major redesign for a few versions (since Android 12 actually, which was released in 2021).
In Android 17, the search bar has ditched the thick Material You border for a thinner, glassy look, with more customization (color, transparency…) and now, the possibility to change the shortcut, offering lots of options like the song search, the weather, translation, and news for example, powered by Gemini.
Also, we noticed the appearance of a new search engine setting, empty at the moment, which might let the user change the engine of the widget to comply with the antitrust laws.
- The At a glance widget
A long-awaited feature in the Pixel history: we can now remove the At a glance widget from the home screen, freeing up the top row for more available space.
- Volume and brightness
Android 17 comes with a few very discreet UI changes that make the whole system more integrated. This first beta focuses on icons as some of them were not expressive enough.
The first one is the brightness icon, which was added on the right side of the slider. On some devices, the extra dim feature was also integrated into the slider.
The second one is the option icon in the volume slider. Instead of the previous three dots, we now have a clear “settings” icon that shows three sliders. This represents the feature better, as the option popup is literally composed of different sliders.
Installation and stability
As usual, to opt into the Android 17 beta, go to Android Beta website, and see if your devices are compatible. As of now, only Pixels are compatible (from 6 to 10, tablet and fold). Remember that beta programs are unstable builds and you might face issues that will make your device unusable until they get fixed. Even if most people who run beta software on their main device never face real issues, it might be a good idea to run unstable builds on a second non-primary device.
Conclusion
The Android 17 Beta 1, "Cinnamon Bun," is clearly focused on enhancing the foundational experience of the OS, prioritizing developer-facing improvements and system-wide consistency over flashy new consumer features. The forced screen adaptability and dynamic camera sessions are major platform shifts that promise a smoother, more unified experience across all form factors—especially foldables and tablets—building directly on the ambition of Android 16's desktop mode.
While UI changes were minimal, the subtle but significant tweaks to the Pixel Launcher search bar, the ability to remove the At a glance widget, and the clearer volume/brightness icons show Google is committed to polishing the core interface. This first beta sets a technical foundation for adaptability and performance, hinting that the larger user-facing changes may arrive in subsequent builds. And you, what features are you most hoping to see improved or added in the next Android 17 beta build, and why ?
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