Android 16 brings iPhone like live updates feature Real Time Tracking on Lock Screen All Details

Google released the first stable version of Android 16 last month, adding several new features. One of these is ‘Live Updates’ feature, which will give the user information about the necessary activities in real time on the lock screen of their phone. This feature is being compared to the live activities of the iPhone, where information from the beginning of an ongoing activity to the end is found at one place. According to Google, its purpose is to give notifications which are time-sensitive, not information about old events.

Live updates feature can be used in apps where it is necessary to give information about active status, such as showing ETA during navigation, status to stay due to a call, food delivery or cab tracking. All these updates will be seen on the lock screen of the phone, so that there will be no need to unlock the phone again and again.

Google’s Have to say That apps like Maps can now show directions through a status chip on the home screen, while the trip screen will be found on the trip screen through live updates. The advantage of this will be that users will be able to monitor any ongoing transactions or travel continuously, without opening the app.

However, Google has also made it clear that developers have to keep in mind that live updates are seen only for the activities that have been triggered manually by the user and in which the user’s frequent attention is necessary.

Also, Google has also released some rules to prevent misuse of this feature. Under this, Live Updates cannot be used for ads, promotion, chat messages, upcoming calendar events or alerts. In such a case, standard notifications, quick setting tiles or app widgets have to be used.

Google has also mentioned some actions. For example, if a user buys a flight or concert ticket in advance, live updates can be triggered, but only when the time of the event is very close.