Android’s Quarterly Public Release beta programs, which eventually evolve into cutting-edge Pixel Feature Drops, then often actual full-fledged Android features, aren’t always groundbreaking. They add useful refinements here and there, fix a random bug or two, and give developers and enthusiasts time to work them over. That’s especially true of point updates, like the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3.1 that we’ve been expecting for a short while now.
But this one’s a little different. Beta 3.1 doesn’t appear to introduce any mind-blowing new tools or interface updates, but it does offer something just as good: tons and tons of important fixes, many of which apply to fatal errors that have sent beta testers’ software crashing for a month. It’s one of the longest lists of QPR beta patches we’ve seen in a while, and power users on the internet are already happy about it.
Who gets the beta and what it does
Everybody with a modern Pixel (except one, kinda), and a lot
Android 16 QPR betas have been confirmed available for all Pixel phones going back to the Pixel 6. If enrolling your Pixel in the beta program is the easiest way to get access. If you’re really, really excited about all these bug fixes, though, you can head to Google’s beta image download page and use the Flash Tool to install the package corresponding to your phone.
Interestingly, Google doesn’t list the image for the Pixel 6a. That could be somehow related to its decision to stop offering refurbished Pixel 6a units following the ongoing battery performance and potential fire hazard issues. Even more interestingly, though, Reddit user Sheroman managed to track down the new image files on Google’s servers, and guess what? The Pixel 6a’s QPR1 Beta 3.1 software does appear to exist. Although we’re not sure that you’d want to put your potentially unstable device through the paces of a next-gen beta.
With no further ado, here’s the list of changes for what we thought would be a minor update. Strap in, because whatever bug you were upset about probably got some attention:
Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3.1 (August 2025)
- Device instability or reboots related to Wi-Fi by improving how the system processes network statistics. (Issue #433037402, Issue #432867183, Issue #433418936, Issue #432795362, Issue #432770117, Issue #432699126, Issue #435489862, Issue #435011484)
- The Context Hub, a low-power sensor component, would crash due to excessive use of main memory, causing device instability; resolved by optimizing memory allocation and preventing memory leaks. ( Issue #420999948, Issue #426316038)
- The home screen sometimes lost its bottom row of pinned apps and the search bar, making them inaccessible; this was fixed by adjusting how these elements reappear after screen transitions. (Issue #428088033, Issue #428405658, Issue #429817851)
- Notifications would overlap in the shade, hindering readability, by refining the notification display and dismissal animation logic. (Issue #421792538, Issue #422749237, Issue #420418750, Issue #428896474)
- An issue that caused unexpected device restarts. (Issue #427676713)
- The Quick Settings UI on unfolded foldable devices appeared clipped or misaligned due to incorrect padding caused by double-counting the camera cutout. (Issue #419184923, Issue #421879049, Issue #421810067, Issue #423172198, Issue #422560004, Issue #424116279)
- An issue that caused devices to unexpectedly reboot. (Issue #408888279, Issue #409949346, Issue #409960197, Issue #410624610, Issue #407373090, Issue #430095518)
- The status bar appearing in the Quick Settings shade was sometimes misaligned with the standard status bar, causing a visual inconsistency. (Issue #419573315, Issue #419134909, Issue #432794874)
- Addressed a system hang or crash, particularly during unlock, caused by the camera’s Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) read getting stuck, by implementing a non-blocking method for sensor data retrieval. (Issue #421870862, Issue #420725698)
- The media player on the lock screen would sometimes disappear or become unresponsive. (Issue #420517884)
- An issue where the notification shade displayed a large, growing gap, obscuring notifications, by correcting how notification animations were clipped. (Issue #421366916)
- An issue where the media player notification could appear clipped or disappear during device rotation, by improving how its display area is sized and updated in UI transitions. (Issue #433040374)
- Video calls initiated from voice calls no longer experience muted audio; a system audio fix now correctly manages sound output during call type transitions. (Issue #434139133, Issue #427060263, Issue #438414975)
- An issue where black translucent bars appeared at the top and bottom of the home screen after exiting full-screen apps by correcting how transient system bar states were cleared. (Issue #425407737, Issue #433929827)
- An issue that caused the device to unexpectedly crash and restart during an OTA update.
- An issue causing occasional device restarts after system updates.
- Widgets on the home screen sometimes failed to load due to looking for outdated app files.
- Typing occasionally stopped working in apps because internal input system processes could race.
- Device crashes caused by the Context Hub running out of memory.
- Bluetooth crashes and instability caused by an “Unimplemented Packet Type” error have been resolved.
- An issue that could cause phone disconnections or system crashes during calls by resolving a memory corruption bug in audio data buffer handling related to audio playback speed changes.
- A brief screen flicker happened when launching apps from the notification shade.
- A system crash that could occur when using your device’s media features, especially when connected to a computer for media transfer, by improving the internal handling of media connection resources.
There you have it. We’d go over this to make sure it addressed every last complaint from power users and armchair developers, but as you can see, that would take all night.
It’s worth noting that we’re not seeing it on any of our beta devices just yet, although that could change at any minute. Also, if you have already updated to the stable August security patch, you won’t be able to switch it up and move into Beta 3.1, because it’s shipping with the July 2025 Security Patch Level. In that case, you’ll just have to wait it out — but don’t worry, the actual stable software is right around the corner, with some pretty important updates.
