Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is experimenting with transparent notifications in Android 16.
- Notifications will appear transparent only when shown on the lock screen and on top of other apps.
- It’s unlikely that Google will move forward with this change given the reduction in readability, but it’s an interesting experiment regardless.
Many people personalize their Android phones with wallpapers that hold some personal meaning to them or they simply enjoy looking at. The lock screen in particular is a great canvas for personalized wallpapers as it’s usually less cluttered than the home screen, but a couple of notifications is all it takes to obscure the wallpaper. Google is now experimenting with making notifications more transparent in Android 16 in an effort to declutter the lock screen.
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Following the release of Android 16 Beta 3 the other day, I discovered work on a new transparent notifications feature. After activating the feature, I noticed that notifications were now semi-transparent on some surfaces. Specifically, heads-up notifications and notifications shown on the lock screen were now semi-transparent, whereas notifications in the notifications panel were unchanged.
Here’s a gallery that compares the current notifications design (without any transparency) with the experimental design (with some transparency):
As you can see, this semi-transparent design allows for more of the lock screen wallpaper to be visible. It also allows you to see the top bar or any other UI element at the top of apps when a heads-up notification is shown. On the other hand, it makes notification content harder to read due to the lower contrast, which is a significant drawback. Because of this, I think it’s unlikely that Google will actually roll out this new transparent notification design in Android 16, let alone in a future release. I think it’s likely we’ll see Google add some transparency elsewhere, such as in the notifications panel itself, but I doubt we’ll see the same level of transparency on the current surfaces.
For completeness, I also wanted to see how the transparent design would impact the compact notification shelf on the lock screen. When the chip is made semi-transparent, the notification icons are a bit harder to make out at a glance, but I personally think it looks a lot nicer.
If Google were to extend this transparency to the fingerprint and shortcut buttons at the bottom, I think Android’s lock screen would look amazing. What do you think?
