Android 15 hasn't rolled out to any phones yet, though it's coming to Pixel phones very soon, but we're already hearing about Android 16, and specifically about a major change it could bring to notification screens and Quick Settings.
Digging through the latest Android 15 QPR beta, Mishaal Rahman, writing for Android Authority, has managed to activate a new version of these screens, which they believe is intended to be released as part of Android 16.
Currently, if you have a Pixel phone, swiping down from the top of the screen will show all of your notifications, along with four Quick Settings tiles. This drop-down menu will also completely cover any apps that are running underneath.
If you want to access the rest of the Quick Settings tiles, you'll need to swipe down a second time.
But with this new version that Rahman has found, swiping down with one finger will once again show the notification panel, but this time you won't see any Quick Settings and the drop-down menu will only cover the top half of your phone's screen, so you'll still be able to see any apps you have running underneath it.
To access the Quick Settings panel, you'll need to swipe with two fingers and then swipe left or right to access additional Quick Settings tiles.
View in
You can see what this all looks like in the video above, though keep in mind that this is an unfinished version of the feature, which, for example, doesn't handle light mode well, making white text impossible to see. So if this change is implemented, it will presumably do so in a more polished form.
In any case, the gist of it is that accessing Quick Settings no longer requires a double swipe, but a two-finger swipe. Whether this is better or worse is a fairly subjective matter, but could prove quite controversial – for example, Rahman described the change as “annoying”.
A Pixel-specific change
It also remains to be seen whether this change will be implemented, because while it's clearly something Google is experimenting with, that doesn't mean the company is going ahead with it.
If we look at this, the most likely release timing is with Android 16, which probably won't be finished for another year or so, though it's always possible that the change could come as part of a smaller software update in the meantime.
Oh, and if you don't have a Pixel phone, you probably won't get this change anyway, since most other manufacturers make their own tweaks to notifications screens and quick settings.
