Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 brings a new widget resizing option

Android's implementation of home screen widgets has been meticulously refined over the years. It now works seamlessly across your home screen(s), though the mechanism for resizing widgets has remained largely untouched. With the recently released Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2, Google is adding an accessibility-focused feature to Android's widget editing workflow.

In its current form, users must long-press a home screen widget and drag it vertically or horizontally to resize it. But with the recently released beta, Google has also included '+' and '-' buttons to the equation. These buttons won't replace the existing system, but will appear alongside as an alternative.

Screenshots published by Android Authority offer a good look at these buttons across multiple types of home screen widgets. The buttons are dynamic, which means the plus and minus buttons disappear when you've reached the widget's size limit.

A useful accessibility-oriented feature for Android

These new buttons will borrow colors from the system theme and are prominent enough to avoid any clashing with the wallpaper. As you would imagine, the plus and minus will also appear when you're extending or shrinking a widget horizontally.

There could also be an accessibility element to this particular feature, as the buttons could greatly help individuals who have difficulty stretching or extending their fingers on the screen. It's unclear whether these keys will be active by default when Android 16 QPR3 stable rolls out or whether Google will make them available as an option in the Accessibility settings.

In any case, this is a good option to have on your smartphone as long as it doesn't interfere with the existing experience. It's worth noting that the appearance of this feature in Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 doesn't guarantee its rollout when the stable version rolls out in a couple of months. Additionally, Google may choose not to roll it out at all.

Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 doesn't introduce many visual changes to the software, focusing primarily on fixing bugs from the first beta, which landed in December.

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Among those bugs are excessive battery drain, random software freezes, and issues with wired and wireless charging, to name a few. These issues are not out of the ordinary for a beta release, as its sole purpose is to help identify software glitches before rolling it out widely.

Have you installed the latest Android 16 QPR3 beta on your Pixel phone? What has your experience been like so far?

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Posts By  Jon Gilbert