3 new Android 16 features can be thanks to Android Canary

Android 16 is here, there are already many interesting new features to try, but there are more.

You can try some of these right away, thanks to the upcoming Android feature tests from Google’s brand new delivery mechanism Android Canary. According to 9to5google, the first Android Canary update is here, bringing a handful of small new features. They aren’t big, game-changing, but they do sound good. Here are three you should try.

Before you start, a brief warning: installing an unfinished Android build on your personal device can be dangerous because I hope it’s obvious. Do it at your own risk.

1. Hide AI buttons

Personally, the most attractive new feature in the latest Android Canary update is the ability to hide AI buttons from the pixel search bar located on the phone’s home screen. Usually, the search bar has only two buttons: one for voice search and one for photo search. Today, there is a third button that activates AI mode, but the new toggle in the Settings menu makes you turn it off completely, so you never accidentally press it.

2. Enhanced HDR

It’s not clear how profound it has, but there’s a new “Enhanced HDR Brightness” toggle in the Settings menu that should improve image quality on anything that supports HDR. Specifically, as the name suggests, HDR content should be brighter after turning on this operation. HDR is great when configured correctly, but sometimes it can produce darker images, so it’s a good setup assuming it works.

3. A new independent parental control menu

The last one is a new feature, but a reorganization of the settings menu, but now there is a dedicated “Parent Control” menu that isn’t the same as before. Previously, the parent’s controls were bundled into the “Digital Benefits” menu that still exists, but now they are separated from the parent’s controls. Again, there seems to be no new parental control options at the moment, but it’s great now that it’s a standalone part of its own Settings menu.