Your Pixel just got the biggest free Android update of the year from Google

If you have a Pixel phone in your pocket, today is a good day for you, although you’re not quite yet getting everything Google is promising you. In what is usually the biggest day of the year for free Android updates, today sees Android 16 available worldwide for anyone with a supported Google Pixel smartphone - but the promised change to the look and feel of your phone is coming later this year.

Google announced a new design language last month that it is calling Material 3 Expressive, but this visual overhaul is not coming as part of this latest update, which instead delivers most of the rest of Android 16. It’s a bit odd that Google would not line up the new design with the release of Android 16, but Google’s gonna Google.

“Today, we’re bringing you Android 16, rolling out first to supported Pixel devices with more phone brands to come later this year,” Google said. “This is the earliest Android has launched a major release in the last few years, which ensures you get the latest updates as soon as possible on your devices.

“Android 16 lays the foundation for our new Material 3 Expressive design, with features that make Android more accessible and easy to use.”

Android 16 should be ready to download to your phone today if you own a Pixel 6 or later. That means Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9a, Pixel Fold and Pixel 9 Pro Fold owners will all be getting the free upgrade.

You’ll see a few visual changes when you boot up your phone after the update, including to the notification shade and settings menu, plus an extra row on your home screen for apps.

You should also see more streamlined notifications and a new security option called Advanced Protection. There are also now Live updates from compatible notifications, such as showing the progress of an Uber arrival.

Google confusingly separates the Android 16 update with its new June PIxel Drop. The latter is one of a quarterly feature update the firm pushes out to Pixels, and this is also now available. Those with older phones won’t get all the new features, though

For example, all Pixel 6 and newer devices get Pixel VIPs, a new widget where you can see your last call and message from your pre-selected VIPs, a step above Android’s regular Favourites category. VIPs can bypass Do Not Disturb mode, too.

Everyone with a compatible phone will also get Expressive Captions, where Android will provide more detailed captions when you turn the system-wide option on.

But other June Pixel Drop features such as custom stickers in Gboard are only for Pixel 9 or newer phones. In this case, that’s because this tool uses Pixel Studio, an AI app older Pixels can’t get. Pixel 9 owners will also enjoy new Hearing Aid features.

This is a big day for Pixel phones, and owning a Google-made handset is always a plus for getting the new Android version first. We will have to wait and see when other Android manufacturers decide to update their phones to Android 16. It could be a while - Samsung only pushed out Android 15 two months ago.

But Android is different now. It's not as important for Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi and the rest to push out Android 16 today. Android is quite fragmented, and Google is shipping Pixel-exclusive Feature Drops alongside Android 16. Samsung can do the same, giving its users exclusive features whenever it wants.

It’s unlikely any Android makers will use much of Google’s new Material 3 Expressive design, either, so there’s no incentive for them to rush to push out Android 16 unless it is bringing major new features to Android - and it doesn’t look like it is.

Annual Android version updates continue to come, but the shifting of the timing from Google and the collective shrug from other Android manufacturers shows that while this is the biggest update of the year for Pixel phones, it’s not as important as it used to be.