The upcoming QPR1 update, expected in September, is set to introduce dynamic and progressive notifications for Pixel devices. This feature will allow users to track activities in real-time through the lock screen and status bar, covering uses such as food delivery updates, alerts, timers, ride-hailing app pickups, navigation, and more. However, there’s a catch: these new notifications won’t work seamlessly with popular music applications.
Currently, music players benefit from special permissions that grant them prominent screen space. Their controls are accessible through the Quick Settings menu by swiping down, and they also feature on the lock screen and Always On Display (AOD). Despite this, there is no status bar chip that allows users to quickly access controls or view track information at a glance.
The new dynamic notification class from Android 16 could have addressed this issue, but unfortunately, it falls short. The main reason lies in the fact that music and audio streaming apps do not employ the necessary notification template required to achieve the Live Update status. According to Android analyst Mishaal Rahman, several key criteria must be met for a notification to qualify for this elevation.
These include being marked as an ongoing activity, displaying a short summary in the status bar chip, declaring the required permissions, calling the appropriate API, and using the Progress-style notification template. While music streaming apps meet most of these requirements, they lack the crucial Progress-style template. Instead, they use a dedicated Media-style template that allows for elevated playback notifications.
Adopting the Progress-style template would enable music apps to gain a new status bar chip but would result in losing their preferred position in the Quick Settings panel—a trade-off that is unlikely to be acceptable for most media apps. The future remains uncertain regarding whether Google will modify this to allow multiple templates to be recognized as Live Updates.
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