With Android 16 now stable, Google has formally started releasing Live Updates, giving users a preview of its eagerly anticipated response to Apple’s Live Activities. In order to give real-time updates for continuous operations such as food delivery, ride-hailing pickups, navigation, and timers, a new class of notifications called Live Updates was created.

Because of their increased permissions, these notifications can show up above regular alerts, including on the lock screen and status bar. However, Live Updates are only partially supported during the initial rollout of Android 16. It is anticipated that full system-level integration will occur later in 2025, 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.