Live Updates come to Google Maps in the latest Android 16 Beta

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Last week, Google rolled out the Android 16 Beta 2.1, which was supposed to be a minor patch over the Android 16 Beta 2 with fixes for bugs and annoying glitches, including the one that forced Pixel phones to restart without any warnings. 

However, it looks like Beta 2.1 also brought the new Live Updates feature, although only partially. 

Google first announced the Live Updates feature in January, but it wasn’t ready for the developers to test then. 

But it has now appeared with the most recent Android beta, and Google Maps seems ready for it. 

Live Update is partially available on Google Maps, but the next Android 16 update will fully bring it 

Live Updates is one of the head-turning features on the upcoming Android 16, allowing the operating system to showcase progress-related notifications on the status bar, notifications panel, lock screen, and always-on display.

According to Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman, the Live Updates were displayed as status bar chips in the notifications panel and above the priority conversations. 

While he wasn’t the first to notice that Google Maps has started supporting Live Updates, he verified the claim using his own Pixel running Android 16 Beta 2.1.

He further states that Google Maps would show ETA and the time to next turn in the status bar. 

It also uses its usual navigation icon and the iconic green background, and tapping it brings up the notification as a heads-up panel so that you can view the notification without pulling down the entire panel. 

Unfortunately, in his testing, Google Maps did not appear on the always-on-display, which he states was due to the feature being partially available in Beta 2.1, which he assured would be available on the next Android beta. 

Either way, the latest Android beta only provided a glimpse into the new Live Updates, which seems to be a pretty helpful feature, especially regarding navigation with Google Maps.

Android 16 is on track for an early release this year, presumably in June. 

What do you think about Live Updates? Are you running Android 16 beta currently? Talk to us in the comments below, or via our Twitter or Facebook.