Android 16 is on its way. Google has confirmed that the next major Android update is on track for a June 2025 release, earlier than any recent version of the software. However, you can already install the Android 16 beta. Android 16 Beta 1 launched in January, and we can expect multiple updates before the stable update in June.
Installing a beta build of Android has always been a risky proposition. These beta builds are a chance for Google to test the build in the wild and iron out major bugs ahead of the stable release. But Android 16 is no different from earlier Android releases, its beta builds launched with a plethora of bugs that affected the Android experience in subtle and significant ways. Here are the worst Android 16 beta bugs we’ve seen so far.
You have to frantically tap on your screen to change your phone’s theme
In Android 16 Beta 2, tapping on any of the color palettes in the Wallpaper & style menu (accessed by tapping and holding on your home screen, or through the Settings app) wouldn’t immediately change your phone’s theme. We tested this bug and found that we had to tap about 25 times on a color palette icon before the phone registered the switch.
This bug occurred whether users had themed icons enabled or not. While themed icons are still in beta (and therefore more likely to have bugs), the wallpaper theme switcher has been a stable feature since Android 12. You can only reliably change the wallpaper theme in Android 16 Beta 2 by heading into the System colors menu, as shown in the top-left GIF above. Restarting the device did not fix this issue.
6
Phones ignored the 80% battery limiter setting
Pixel phones are always charging to 100%
Since November 2024, Pixel phones have had a feature that lets you stop the battery from charging over 80 percent. This feature slows down battery degradation, which is crucial for people who want to hold onto their phones for as long as possible. However, Android 16 Beta 2 broke this feature and rendered this setting completely useless.
If you enabled this feature in Android 16 Beta 2, your phone’s battery would always charge to 100%. Sometimes, phones with this feature enabled will charge to 100%, but this is an intentional aberration designed to recalibrate estimated battery capacity. This bug meant your phone would charge to 100% every time. Draining the battery completely or restarting the phone did not fix this issue.
5
Phone calls were randomly restarting Pixel phones
However, the bug was limited to Pixel 7 devices
Numerous Pixel 7 users on Android 16 Beta 1 reported that their devices were randomly restarting mid-call. Even worse, the problem isn’t identical across all devices. One user noted that their phone restarts four out of five phone calls and that the issue seemed to appear around the five-minute mark. Another user reported that after the restart, their call logs had been deleted. Yet another reported that their phone would restart at random times during calls. Regardless of the specific symptoms, this bug rendered people unable to use their phones for minutes at a time.
This bug affected Pixel 7a, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7 Pro devices. Interestingly, this bug first appeared last year and was squashed as part of the Android 15 QPR2 Beta 3 update in January 2025. Android 16 Beta 1 seemed to have broken this fix again. Google marked this bug as high-priority due to the impact it had on people’s personal and professional calls.
Smart home controls were inaccessible
For many users on Android 16 Beta 1, the Google Home app refused to open. The Google Home widget also refused to work, displaying the error message “widget is not supported.” This left people unable to access their smart home controls. No matter which method you used to open the Google Home app, it would crash or refuse to open every time.
This bug could be temporarily resolved by reinstalling the Google Home app, but we found that the bug reappeared soon after. Others managed to fix the bug by force-stopping the app and clearing the cache.
Issuing commands to Google Home via Google Assistant or Gemini seemed to bypass the bug, but users could only issue commands, not open the app. This bug was relatively rare, as most people reported that the Google Home app was working fine for them.
3
The Google Files app crashed upon opening a PDF file
Thankfully, the bug was limited to the Files app
Android 16 Beta 1 users reported that the Google Files app would crash every time they tried to open a PDF file. The app would crash immediately upon selecting a PDF file to open; the document preview wouldn’t show.
We replicated this bug on a Pixel 8, and hundreds of other users have reported this bug on various Pixel phones running Android 16 Beta 1. For some users, clearing the app’s cache and storage fixed the issue, but for us, this method only worked for the first PDF file we opened.
This bug was limited to the Google Files app. Other apps, including Google Drive and third-party file manager apps, could open PDF files fine.
2
Gesture navigation broken on third-party launchers
The Pixel Launcher was slightly more stable
Pixel users who were using a third-party launcher noticed that gesture navigation was broken on Android 16 Beta 1. This bug stopped users from switching between apps by swiping up on the navigation bar, forcing them to find the app in the app drawer instead of a quick swipe and tap. The animation of switching to a recent app would show, but the user was sent to the home screen instead of the selected app.
This bug was predominant on third-party launchers, but Pixel Launcher users also encountered it. Microsoft Launcher, Lawnchair, Niagara, and Nova Launcher users reported that the bug disappeared when they switched back to Pixel Launcher. A few stock Pixel users reported this issue, too, but the majority of users encountering this bug were using third-party launchers.
Fortunately, there was an easy fix
Some users reported that font colors were broken in the quick settings menu on multiple Pixel devices running Android 16 Beta 1. The time and date font was unreadable as its dark grey font blended into the black background.
Fortunately, it seemed like this bug could be fixed by switching the phone to Dark Mode and then rebooting it. After disabling Dark mode, the quick settings text was returned to normal.
Install the Android 16 beta at your own risk
Some of the bugs, like the random restarts during phone calls and the broken Google Home app, caused major problems for users. They’re great examples of why we don’t recommend installing the Android 16 beta on a device you regularly use for important calls.
However, don’t take these bugs as a sign of a disastrous June launch. The Android 16 beta is about as stable as recent Android beta releases and, with the exception of Android 15’s stubborn bugs, the stable launches mostly ironed out these bugs.
