More Android phones will soon support AI-powered notification summaries. The feature comes bundled in the latest version of Android 16 and rolled out on Pixel devices last month, but now other phone makers like Samsung can begin adding it to their devices.
Unlike Apple’s version of the feature for iOS, Google is limiting it to chat apps, meaning you won’t see any wonky AI-generated news summaries just yet. Google says it will condense longer messages and group conversations into shorter snippets that you can view at a glance.
Additionally, Google is launching a new notification organizer that will automatically group and silence “lower-priority” notifications related to promotions, news, and alerts from social platforms. Some other updates coming to Android 16 include the ability to personalize your home screen with custom icon shapes and themes. You can also use a new expanded dark mode feature, which automatically darkens apps even if they don’t natively support the theme.
Google is consolidating its parental controls within the Android Settings menu as well, allowing parents to set screen time, control app usage, and create downtime schedules from one place. Other features rolling out across Android include a way to spot scams using Circle to Search, as well as an update to the Phone by Google app that lets you alert a family member or friend that a call is urgent, but you and the caller need to be using Android devices with Phone by Google set as your default calling app for it to work.
Expressive Captions on Android devices will also detect and display someone’s emotions during a livestream, tagging them with emotions like “[joyful]” or “[sad].” Other tweaks include the ability to activate voice dictation with Android’s TalkBack screen reader by using a two-finger double-tap gesture in Gboard. You can also start using Voice Access, which lets you control your phone with your voice, by saying, “Hey Google, start Voice Access,” instead of having to tap your screen.
Google is launching Fast Pair for hearing aids as well, which will let you connect Bluetooth LE hearing aids to your Android device with one tap. This feature is launching on Demant hearing aids first before rolling out to Starkey devices in early 2026.
Update, December 2nd: Added that AI notifications are now available to more Android phone makers.
