TL;DR The Android 16 update is now available for Pixel devices, but the anticipated Material 3 Expressive UI and new Desktop Mode are not included in this initial release.
Google plans to launch the Material 3 Expressive redesign with the Android 16 QPR1 update, which is expected to roll out on September 3, 2025.
The new Desktop Mode is also slated for the Android 16 QPR1 release and is currently available for testing in QPR1 Beta 2.
Google is finally rolling out the Android 16 update to supported Pixel devices today. The update introduces some nice quality-of-life improvements to notifications, welcome accessibility features, and a new security mode. However, it doesn’t bring two of the biggest changes that Google announced last month: the new UI based on Material 3 Expressive and the new Desktop Mode experience. Fortunately, both of these features are launching very soon, and you can even try them out right now.
When is Google rolling out Android 16’s Material 3 Expressive redesign? Material 3 Expressive, the latest iteration of Google’s design language, promises a bolder, more fluid, and more engaging UI. It introduces a revamped Quick Settings panel, new physics-based animations, fresh dynamic color schemes, background blur effects, more customization options, updated buttons, and refreshed icons, among other changes.
Android’s big Material 3 Expressive redesign is set to go live in the upcoming Android 16 QPR1 release. According to a source, Google plans to roll out the update to supported Pixel devices on September 3, 2025. The update’s source code will be released a few weeks earlier, on August 20, 2025.
These release dates aren’t set in stone, as Google can change things at the last minute to address major issues that arise or in response to other news. For example, the company originally planned to release Android 16 on June 3, 2025, but it decided to delay the release to today for unknown reasons.
While we can’t say for sure that Android’s Material 3 Expressive redesign will roll out on September 3, 2025, we do know that it will go live in Android 16 QPR1. Google explicitly said that “much of the new visual polish associated with Material [3] Expressive” will arrive in the “Q3 update in-between the API releases.”
Android's 2025 release timeline overview
The “Q3 update” Google mentioned refers to its third quarterly Android release of 2025. Internally, this is called “25Q3,” which corresponds to the public Android 16 QPR1 release. For context, today’s Android 16 launch is considered “25Q2,” the second quarterly release of the year.
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