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While it’s not fully available in the current stable Android 16 release, Live Updates are on their way, and Google has quietly released new documentation for developers looking to utilize the feature, while also offering a better example of the functionality with Google Maps.
Live Updates is Android’s take on Live Activities from iOS. The feature is set to allow apps to send a notification that’s elevated beyond a usual one, showing information that’s timely and updated without opening the actual app.
Google has shown off this feature on multiple occasions, including at I/O where it previewed what Live Updates might look like with Maps, Waymo, and Uber Eats. Android 16’s current stable release launches initial support for this feature, but it’s not fully available yet.
Now, on a developer page, Google is offering some more crucial details.
Google explains that Live Updates in Android 16 are to be used for “activities that are ongoing, user-initiated and time sensitive.” The company lists a few examples including “active navigation,” phone calls, rideshare tracking, and food delivery tracking. Meanwhile, Google explicitly says that Live Updates should not be used for “ads, promotions, chat messages, alerts, upcoming calendar events, and quick access to app features,” further adding that “ambient information, such as that about the user’s environment, interests, or upcoming events” should not be shown using Live Updates.
Google illustrates the time-sensitive aspect of Live Updates saying:
A Live Update is often appropriate for activities that transition between Live Updates and normal notifications. For example, showing a boarding pass notification is appropriate many hours before a user’s flight, but the notification should become a Live Update only when the user has a pressing need, such as when they have arrived at the airport or venue or once boarding has begun. In contrast, a Live Update isn’t appropriate for tracking a package as the user doesn’t need to constantly monitor this.
Google Maps is shown as an example of this, with “active navigation” showing directions in the status chip and the Live Update notification showing trip progress and further directions.
Google published this page in late June from what we can tell, and we found it following seeing a tweet highlighting the Google Maps video. The video gives us our first conclusive look at Live Updates in action, while also showing some of the nuanced portions of the functionality such as the lockscreen outline.
The page goes on to explain that “Status chips” can include just an icon, and icon and up to 7 characters of text, or a specific time.
Google ends the page by recommending that developers, firstly, don’t abuse Live Updates. Secondly, they recommend that if the user swipes away a Live Update, the app should be designed to recognize this and not resurface it.
This page gives developers pretty clear guidance, but it doesn’t say much regarding when we’ll actually see this functionality go live. Findings in the latest Android 16 QPR1 Beta release, though, suggest we’ll see apps start adopting Live Updates as soon as that update goes live in the next few months.
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Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.
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