Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3 Update With Fixes for Launcher, Notifications Rolling Out for Pixel Phones

Google on Thursday announced the release of Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3 to developers and beta testers. It is being rolled out as an over-the-air (OTA) for Pixel phones and improves upon the fixes carried by the Android 16 QPR Beta 2.1 that was issued last month. The tech giant said that its latest update rectifies bugs related to missing status bar icons, notification display issues, non-functional camera, and launcher not completely displaying. The QPR Beta 3 also includes the July 2025 Android security patch.

Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3 Update Changes

As per Google’s release notes, the new Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3 update fixes an issue which caused the phone to reboot unexpectedly. This was attributed to RTOS task list corruption. Another bug, which stopped the launcher from displaying completely, has also been fixed. One user reported the disappearance of the taskbar on the Pixel Fold, whereas the Google bar did not appear upon exiting an app on another phone.

Several issues were also reported when displaying notifications. The bug reportedly caused a ghost overlay. This has also been fixed.

The tech giant has also rectified major problems with the media player which resulted in the progress bar going missing, the player getting cut-off from the lock screen, and non-functional controls of the mini player in the status bar. A crash issue was also reported, which is said to be due to class loader issues. All of the issues have been patched following the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3 update.

In addition to these, the update also carries fixes for bugs related to the camera UI being unresponsive, phone restarts due to a kernel issue, and missing corner padding of the status bar icons.

Compatible Phones

According to Google, all of the Pixel phones which are enrolled in the Android Beta for Pixel programme and have received previous updates will be eligible to receive Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3. It will be offered as an over-the-air (OTA) update. The list includes: