The best Android 16 features that are already live in an IU 8 beta

Android 16 is Now available for Pixel phones, although some of the most exciting features are not ready before the release of Android 16 QPR1 later year. On the other hand, Samsung’s One UI 8 Beta, which is based on Android 16, has already surprised us by putting live more quickly than expected and by wrapping certain fundamental features that pixels have not yet and will not have before QPR1. Of course, One UI 8 Beta also has all the applications and the design language of Samsung, as well as all the new features that Samsung develops for itself, but what interests me here are the new features based on Android 16 that I have been able to try.

Of all the Android 16 features that Samsung has already implemented in an IU 8, these are my three favorites.

With an IU 7, Samsung has introduced live notifications. Like Apple’s live activities, live notifications make important notifications more accessible. Media commands, current timers, Google Maps instructions and more are shown in a bubble to the left of the selfie camera and integrate into the bar now. If Samsung phones already have this feature, why do we discuss it now?

Google adds live updates – mainly the same feature – to Android 16, with a full functionality expected in the QPR1 update later this year. This is a significant development for users of Samsung, because there are relatively few third -party applications that support the live notifications of Samsung in a user interface 7, but application developers should be more encouraged to support the functionality when it is available on Android as a whole and not only Samsung phones.

Shared screen multitasking has been an Android feature for years, and it hasn’t changed much since its introduction. OnePlus made his debut on Open Canvas on the OnePlus Open, a new way of multitasking on a foldable that made much more sense than anything we had tried. Android 16 uses this as inspiration for division 90:10. This allows you to collapse one of the applications, so it only takes 10% of your screen, giving the other application room to breathe. Press the smallest application opposite their positions, so you can exchange between them if necessary.

Ironically, Samsung phones are currently the only Android 16 devices that can use this feature, because Google has not included it in the stable Android 16 for pixels version, or in current beta for Android 16 QPR1. I hope it will change soon, because I would like to use it on my Pixel 9 Pro.

Advanced protection is not as flashy or cool as the two previous inputs, but it is an important addition to Android 16. This is a collection of features designed to protect your phone and your data. Some of these security features are new, while others have been present in the previous versions of Android and are now grouped under advanced protection.

The existing features, such as locking the flight protection, blocking the APK installation, Android safety navigation, and more, are all activated when the advanced protection is activated. The new features include a USB protection mode that is lacking in new USB connections only while your phone is locked, automatically restarting your phone if it has been inactive for 72 hours, and even more.

None of this is as exciting as live updates, but I am happy to see it in Android 16. Many of you who read this probably know not to install a doubtful APK from a random website or how to spot a scam call. Many people, however, do not do so, and allow all these features on the phones of my grandparents with a single rocking, which allows me to worry less of them, is something that I welcome. Will this completely solve the problems of spam and malware in the world? Of course not, but everything that facilitates fights is a good thing.

Android 16 is not a huge overhaul of Android, but there are still new nice features that I look forward to trying when they land. I’m just happy to have already tried some of them in One Ui 8 Beta, who already feels less rushed and less hacked together than a UI 7. What do you look forward to in Android 16 and a UI 8? Let me know in the comments.