Google drops Android 16 Beta 3.1 with fixes for battery drain and Settings crashes

18 Mar 2025, 20:40 by Dallas Thomas · Android Police

Summary

Android Beta 16 3.1 addresses critical bugs, including settings app crashes and battery drain.
The update focuses on fixing performance issues and memory leaks that were present in Android 16 Beta 3.
The download size is under 8MB, and the update is already rolling out to eligible Pixel devices enrolled in the Android Beta Program.

Android 16 Beta 3 brought Google's next OS to its Platform Stability era less than a week ago, so the fact that the company is back five days later with an x.1 bug fix release tells you some pretty serious bugs were squashed. And that's definitely a good thing, because the condensed development timeline this year doesn't leave much room for procrastination.

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Google announced Android 16 Beta 3.1 on Reddit today, noting that the new version has a build number of BP22.250221.013 on most devices. The security patch level is still March 2025, and the Google Play Services version is 25.07.33. Google's release notes for the update outline a handful of pretty important fixes:

Android 16 Beta 3.1 (March 2025)

This minor update to Android 16 Beta 3 includes the following fixes:

Fixed an issue that caused the system Settings app to crash repeatedly on launch if the system language was set to a language other than English. (Issue #403303683)
Fixed an issue that caused the screen brightness to oscillate between an app-specified brightness setting and the automatic, system-specified or user-specified brightness settings. (Issue #392522561)
Fixed a performance issue that was causing excessive battery drain from high CPU load.
Fixed a performance issue that sometimes caused memory leaks in the system server.

All eligible devices enrolled in the Android Beta for Pixel program will be offered an over-the-air (OTA) update to Beta 3.1.

Note: Other known issues listed for the Beta 3 release still apply to Beta 3.1. In addition, see top open issues for the latest list of issues that have been reported by developers and users.

Notably, a performance issue that caused high CPU load, and subsequently, battery drain, has been fixed. So if you've noticed poor battery life on your Pixel lately, this update should help get things in check. Similarly, an issue that caused the Settings app to repeatedly force-close if the system language was set to anything other than English has been resolved, as have screen brightness glitches and a memory leak in the system server.

Overall, it's a short list, but the few fixes featured here are calorie-dense, which explains the unusually short layoff between updates this week.

Rollout details and availability

Google says this update will begin rolling out immediately, and we can confirm that it's already available on the devices we've tested — however, the company notes that it may take up to 24 hours to reach all users. It's a smaller update than usual, clocking in at under 8MB on our devices, so the download should be fairly fast.

This version is being seeded to all Pixel devices enrolled in the Android Beta Program — and all of Google's phones, tablets, and foldables, from the Pixel 6 to present, are eligible to enroll. Once you've opted in, just head to Settings → System → Software updates → System update and tap the Check for updates button to download the new version.

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