Android 16 Beta Hints at AI-Powered Notification Summaries, Mirroring Controversial Apple Feature

Android 16 could get one of Apple Intelligence's worst features

Summary Android 16 Beta 3 is hiding strings of code that point towards notification summaries. It would include options to exclude apps and disable notifications, catering to whatever your preferences are. Apple launched a similar feature last year, and it's not very good. It's dark days for Apple Intelligence. Despite an ever-present ad campaign, I'm not sure Apple's suite of AI tools has caught on with the general public -- I certainly don't know anyone who's upgraded their iPhone to experience Genmoji -- and last week saw the delay of next-gen Siri. Unfortunately, Google might be taking one of the worst pages out of Apple's playbook for Android 16, as today's new beta is hiding some hints that point towards one of iOS 18's worst features coming to your smartphone. Android 16 Beta 3, like most of Google's Android 16 builds before it, doesn't have much new in the way of consumer-facing features, but as our first platform stability release, it's one step closer to the expected full launch in June. That said, like previous builds, there are plenty of secrets hiding beneath the hood, and not all of them are good. As spotted by 9to5Google, Google is working on summarized notifications that, presumably, utilize AI to deliver summaries of your missed chats and other alerts. These strings seem to include options for both excluding specific apps and disabling notification summaries altogether, which should come as a relief for anyone who doesn't like the idea of AI-generated alert groupings. Some of the phrasings seem like this feature could arrive as a way to better manage your incoming notifications, with the ability to group and silence similar alerts "for a quieter experience." Over at Android Authority, Mishaal Rahman was able to get the feature working manually, with a new "notification summaries" page appearing within Android's settings menu. Please Google, don't screw up my notifications At least you'll be able to turn them off Source: Android Authority If I sound like I'm dreading this change, it's because I am. I despised Apple's notification summaries on the iPhone 16 Pro Max when I reviewed that phone last year, and as I'm wrapping up my incoming review of the iPhone 16e, my feelings have only grown more negative. While I have more faith in Google to get this sort of thing right -- notifications have always been Android's bread and butter, after all -- I've been so burned by a bad implementation of this feature on iOS, I can't imagine ever wanting to turn it on, regardless of the platform. Still, it's possible Android's engineers have sat back and learned from the terrible experience Apple delivered in iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence. Knowing that it's a single toggle to disable these summaries is great news too; while that's also possible on the iPhone, it's a relief to know Google didn't diverge from Apple's path here. While these notification summaries could show up in the next Android 16 beta -- presumably set for April -- I wouldn't be surprised to see these held back for a grand debut on stage at Google I/O. Thanks to James Peckham's recent sit down with Android head Sameer Samat, we know some real user-facing changes are coming to Google's smartphone platform this year, despite how unusually quiet the beta period has been. Combined with the company's recent adoration of on-stage AI demonstrations, I'd be more shocked if these didn't get a mention in Mountain View come May 20th.

One of Apple's most controversial AI features could be coming to Android phones

AI is the new hotness in smartphone tech, or so the phone makers keep telling us, and it should be no surprise that they've already started lifting ideas from one another. While this has the benefit of ensuring people have access to all the best AI features, it could also see them lumbered with the worst ones. Case in point; Apple's notification summaries feature. Despite being widely regarded as one of the worst parts of Apple Intelligence, the newly-released Android 16 beta 3 features references to a very similar-sounding notification summary system. Which doesn't strike me as a good thing. While this new notification summary feature hasn't been enabled yet, different code strings are in the beta -- and reveal some information about how the summaries might work. The good news is that it looks like users will be able to turn off notification summaries for individual apps. So if you do start getting inaccurate notifications, a problem that forced Apple to turn off notification summaries for a time, you can just switch off any of the offending apps. Different strings also show that notifications with "similar themes" can be grouped together. These groups can also be silenced, which could be very beneficial for all those times you don't want to be overwhelmed by specific types of notifications. Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority points out these strings only seem to relate to "conversation" notifications. After getting the feature working in Android 16 beta 3, Rahman spotted that apps would have to specifically designate their notifications as conversation notifications. That way Android doesn't have to scan the contents first, and means the AI isn't looking through every notification you get. Of course summaries won't work unless Google's AI can read and analyze the contents of your messages. It's unclear whether other apps will eventually get notification summaries at some point in the future. That said, keeping it limited to these kinds of apps would prevent the AI getting important notifications wrong. The fact that Apple Intelligence was interfering with news headlines, and offering straight misinformation at times, definitely contributed to the backlash. But since this feature isn't officially available yet, there's no telling when Google might release it to the masses. It could be part of Android 16, but it may also not. We'll just have to wait and see.

Android is prepping notification summaries. Let's hope it's better than iOS

Table of Contents Table of Contents A thoughtful approach for Android Learning from Apple's mistakes So far, Google has done an admirable job of putting generative AI tools on Android smartphones. Earlier today, it announced further refinements to how users interact with Gemini AI assistant and extended a few freebies, too. Now, Google seems to be chasing an AI tool that has worked poorly on iPhones. The folks over at AndroidAuthority took a peek at the code of Android 13's latest beta update and found the mention of"notification summaries." To enable this feature, users will have to flick a dedicated toggle under the Notifications dashboard of the Settings app. Recommended Videos A thoughtful approach for Android Thankfully, users will be able to disable notifications for apps that they don't want to see summarized notifications. An analysis of the strings suggests that the feature will only summarize notifications that host conversational content, such as messages, and no other app alerts. Please enable Javascript to view this content This is a thoughtful strategy, and will likely avoid the mess that came from summarized notifications within the Apple Intelligence bundle. Notification summaries are a useful way to catch up on the chatter in a buzzy group, like friends or workplace chats. Google or Apple won't be the first to think of simmarized notifications. The excellent Shortwave email app relies on OpenAI's GPT stack to summarize inbox conversations impressively. On the flip side, summarized notifications can often miss the context and twist things into a downright inaccurate blurb. I've often noticed how summaries from Teams chat often merge completely non-related and abrupt information into a sentence that makes little to no sense. It would be interesting to see whether Google's AI models fare any better at condensing conversational notifications. Learning from Apple's mistakes Apple's implementation has drawn a lot of flak, including a scathing criticism from BBC. For example, one botched news summary claimed that tennis legend, Rafael Nadal, has come out as gay. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) highlighted the incident and noted that the underlying AI system can't handle reliable, high-quality news content. "RSF calls on Apple to act responsibly by removing this feature," the head of RSF's Technology and Journalism Desk wrote. "The automated production of false information attributed to a media outlet is a blow to the outlet's credibility and a danger to the public's right to reliable information on current affairs." In the wake of repeated flubs, Apple eventually recognized that the notification summary system still needed some polish. To that end, the company disabled it for apps that serve news and entertainment content. Apple also began italicizing the font of summarized text in the notification banner so that it stands out. With the rollout of iOS 18.3's third beta update, the company added language to warn users that summarized notifications may occasionally contain errors. "This beta feature will occasionally make mistakes that could misrepresent the meaning of the original content," reads the setup message. Now that Android is exploring summarized notifications, I am equally optimistic as well as skeptical of the approach. On one hand, my experience with Gemini has been fairly smooth. However, other Google products such as AI overviews in Search continue to fumble with something as basic as the current year.

Android is Copying One of Apple's Useful AI Features

We may earn a commission when you click links to retailers and purchase goods. More info. As evidenced in the latest beta for Android 16, Google is currently working on a new feature for Android, though, it's unclear when it will launch. Dug up by Mishaal Rahman, the feature is labeled as Notification Summaries, taking your communication-based notifications and then providing a single summary notification that you can easily digest. Powered by on-device AI, Notification Summaries will take, for example multiple incoming messages from WhatsApp, then provide a single notification that summarizes the messages. This could be helpful for the people who have friends who like to send a lot of messages back to back, like most of the people in my life. We aren't yet sure how accurate or helpful these summaries could be, given the limited context provided in text messages at times, but this is why we see Google testing it now. The feature has to be enabled and isn't available to everyone, but when enabled, users can choose to toggle it, then also control to exclude certain apps. But again, unlike a similar feature on iOS that summarizes for all apps, this feature is only designed for apps that you for communication. We're talking apps like Messages, Messenger, WhatsApp, and things like that. Google is testing this, but not openly. Speculated by Rahman, this feature probably won't launch with Android 16, but could be left as a quarterly update feature or even saved for Android 17.