Google appears to have made a few changes to the font and spacing of the clock in the status bar.
The changes were reported on a Pixel 9 running the Android 16 Beta 4 update
Google released the Android 16 Beta 4 update last Thursday and while the changelog suggested that it only had fixes for several bugs on Pixel, it allegedly makes some modifications to the user interface (UI) too. According to a report, the update modifies the font for the clock on the Pixel's status bar. Although the overall appearance remains identical, slight changes to the spacing and the font are reported. Additionally, Pixel users are also said to get access to a handful of new colours for the always-on display (AOD) clocks.
Spotted by 9to5Google, the Android 16 Beta 4 update on the Pixel 9 is said to bring tweaks to the status bar's clock which appears in the top-left corner of the screen. The font is slightly changed with wider spacing reported between numbers 1 and 2. However, the number 0 was reported being narrower than in the font observed in the previous beta running on the same handset.
Further, the font also appears to be a hair taller. While the font for the clock has been tweaked, Google doesn't appear to have made any changes to the font or spacing for the battery which is placed at the top-right corner of the screen. No changes are reported in any other status bar icons either.
Alongside the aforementioned changes to the font, the Android 16 Beta 4 update is also reported to include a handful of new colours for the AOD clocks. While the thin outlines around all the clocks were previously white, they are said to now use Dynamic Colour for both the full screen and the top-left corner versions.
It remains to be seen whether these subtle changes will be carried over to the public release. Android 16 reached platform stability in March, allowing developers to integrate new features with their applications. The successor to Android 15 is speculated to be released in June 2025. As per Google, it plans a major SDK release in Q2 2025 with behaviour changes, APIs, and features, while a minor release with API changes and features is on the cards for a Q4 2025 launch.
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