SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 16, 2026, 23:56 PST
- Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 adds plus/minus buttons to resize home-screen widgets, offering an alternative to drag handles.
- Google says the beta targets stability, with fixes spanning crashes, charging limits, battery drain and slow Wi‑Fi on Pixel devices.
- January updates continue to roll out across Pixels, including security patches and graphics fixes for the Pixel 10 line.
Google has added plus-and-minus buttons for resizing home-screen widgets in Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2, giving Pixel testers a tap option instead of dragging edges. Android Authority said the controls disappear when a widget hits its minimum or maximum size. (Android Authority)
The tweak lands as Google pushes the second test build of Android 16 QPR3 — short for Quarterly Platform Release — a track that feeds into the company’s Pixel “Feature Drops.” Android 16 QPR3 Beta 2 also reshuffles parts of the System Settings menu into grouped sections, and Android Central said Google is aiming for a stable QPR3 release around March 2026. (Android Central)
It also comes with security pressure that is not waiting for the beta cycle. A Pixel Update Bulletin updated on Jan. 15 ties Pixel fixes to the 2026-01-05 patch level and lists two critical vulnerabilities, including one in Bluetooth. (Android Open Source Project)
Google’s Android developer release notes show QPR3 Beta 2 landed on Jan. 14 with builds CP11.251209.007.A1 and CP11.251209.007 and a 2026-01-05 patch level. The notes cite fixes for crashes and device freezes, notification shade glitches, an app drawer that could become unresponsive, battery drain overnight and devices ignoring charging limits. Google also listed fixes for slow Wi‑Fi, Android Auto screen-time logging that could hurt battery life, and system crashes on foldables when they are closed with an app open. (Android Developers)
Beta 2 is available to Pixel devices from the Pixel 6 line through the Pixel 10 series, including Google’s foldables and tablet, according to Droid Life. Testers can install it over the air through the Software updates menu or flash it manually using Google’s OTA or factory images. (Droid Life)
The steady stream of patches extends beyond the beta program. Google’s January 2026 security patch for Pixels running Android 16 QPR2 includes “General improvements for GPU performance in certain conditions” for the Pixel 10 family, alongside fixes for always‑on display flickering and a noisy-lines glitch some users saw while editing HDR photos in Adobe Lightroom. Pixel 8 and newer devices also picked up a battery-drain fix, 9to5Google reported. (9to5Google)
Earlier this month, a separate Google Play system update — a 15MB download that carried a generic promise to “keep safe and improve device stability” — produced rough installs on some Pixels, 9to5Google wrote. The outlet said it saw cases where phones rebooted to a black screen or loaded to wallpaper without the usual system UI until another restart. (9to5Google)
But beta features are not guarantees. Google can change or drop them before a stable release, and phased rollouts mean fixes can land unevenly across models, carriers and regions.
For Google, software polish is part of the pitch as it tries to push Pixel hardware against Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy line. A new widget handle is small, but it points to a familiar goal: make Android’s customization feel less finicky without breaking what already works.
Google has not said whether the widget resize buttons will ship outside the QPR3 beta track. More builds are expected before QPR3 reaches stable, and testers should expect further tweaks — or reversals — along the way.
