Android 16’s Live Updates to Show Active Navigation, Ongoing Phone Calls, and More on Lock Screen

Live Updates in Android 16 takes after the Live Activities feature on iOS.

Written by Shaurya Tomer, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 4 July 2025 13:24 IST

Android 16’s Live Updates to Show Active Navigation, Ongoing Phone Calls, and More on Lock Screen

Photo Credit: Google

Live Updates is just one of the many new features in the latest Android 16 operating system

Highlights

Live Updates shows real-time activity notifications on the lock screen
The feature can be used to track active navigation, food delivery, calls
Developers cannot use it for ads or quick access to app features

Google released the first stable build of Android 16 last month with several new features in tow. Among them is Live Updates, which delivers notifications for activities in real-time on the Android phone's lock screen. The tech giant has now provided more information about this feature. Live Updates in Android 16 can be incorporated into apps offering services like phone calls, ride sharing, and food delivery, but not for advertisements or promotions.

Live Updates in Android 16

Live Updates takes after the Live Activities feature on iPhone. It provides notifications for an activity that is in active progress and has a distinct start and end period. The feature is mostly aimed at offering time-sensitive notifications and not events of the past, Google explained on its developer page.

Some of its use cases include active navigation, ongoing phone calls, active food delivery tracking, and active ride-share tracking through their respective Android apps. These notifications will be displayed on the Android device's lock screen, offering details like ETA (estimated time of arrival) or tracking.

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The tech giant said it eliminates the need of unlocking the phone to check the status. For example, Google Maps will show directions during active navigation in the status chip on the home screen, whereas Live Update on the lock screen will display the trip's current progress and further directions.

However, developers must ensure that Live Updates only represent activities that are explicitly triggered by the user and should only appear if the activity demands the user's attention throughout its duration.

The company also detailed the inappropriate use cases of the Live Updates feature. It cannot be used for ads, promotions, chat messages, upcoming calendar events, or alerts. For these, developers can use other OS elements such as standard notifications. Meanwhile, Quick Settings tile and app widgets can be used in case they wish to provide accelerated access to their app's functionality.

There are a few exceptions though. If a user purchases flight or concert tickets some time in advance, or signs up for an activity which is a time-sensitive event, Live Updates may be triggered but only when the scheduled event is imminent.

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Further reading: Android 16, Android 16 features, Google

Shaurya Tomer

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Shaurya Tomer is a Sub Editor at Gadgets 360 with 2 years of experience across a diverse spectrum of topics. With a particular focus on smartphones, gadgets and the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), he often likes to explore the industry's intricacies and innovations – whether dissecting the latest smartphone release or exploring the ethical implications of AI advancements. In his free time, he often embarks on impromptu road trips to unwind, recharge, and ...More