As a preview of its eagerly anticipated response to Apple’s Live Activities, Google has formally started implementing Live Updates with the stable release of Android 16. Real-time updates for continuous tasks like food delivery, ride-hailing pickups, navigation, and timers are provided by the new Live Updates notification class.
Because these alerts have higher permissions, they can show up above regular alerts, including in the lock screen and status bar. Android 16’s first rollout, however, only partially supports Live Updates. Later in 2025, full system-level integration is anticipated, before Wear OS device support.
Android 16 does not regard progress-style notifications any differently than regular notifications, although it does permit apps to create Live Updates using them. Consequently, these alerts do not have the fully enlarged perspective that distinguishes Live Updates.
Notably, Google did not specify when Live Updates would be fully integrated. Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1’s lack of the feature raised concerns about its release, however QPR1 Beta 2 and 2.1 showed indications of improvement. In an article for Android Authority, Android analyst Mishaal Rahman pointed out that Google is changing the fundamental criteria for what constitutes a Live Update, which could account for the release’s delayed schedule.
Android users should anticipate the refined version of Live releases to appear in future releases later this year, while full compatibility is still being developed.
