The latest Android 16 QPR1 beta finally organizes Android's messy sound settings
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR Google is cleaning up Android's 'Sound & vibration' settings page in the upcoming Android 16 QPR1 update.
Instead of one long list, the new layout groups settings into distinct categories like 'sound patterns' and 'Audio.'
The volume sliders also get a modern design, while other options are relocated to make the page feel less cluttered.
After more than 16 years of development, the Android OS is packed with features. If they weren't organized, navigating them would be a mess. For a long time, that's exactly what Android's sound settings page felt like, but Google is finally cleaning it up in the next quarterly release of Android 16.
After installing Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 on our Pixel device, we noticed that the Settings > Sound & vibration menu has received a major cleanup. Instead of presenting every setting in a single vertical list, the latest Android 16 QPR1 beta separates them by category. For instance, the 'phone ringtone,' 'default notification sound,' and 'default alarm sound' options are now grouped under a new 'sound patterns' section. Meanwhile, the 'Spatial Audio' and 'Media' items are under a new 'Audio' section. The five volume sliders remain at the top of the page, but they've been updated with the more modern Material 3 Expressive design seen in the volume panel. Furthermore, the 'audio will play on' entry no longer sits awkwardly between the media and call volume sliders but has been moved to the very top.
Here's a gallery showing the Sound & Vibration settings page in Android 16 versus Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2:
Sound & vibration settings in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1
Sound & vibration settings in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2
And if that's not enough to showcase the difference, here's a list that shows just how unorganized this page was before and after the update to Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2:
Sound & Vibration settings in Android 16 Media volume
Audio will play on
Call volume
Ring volume
Notification volume
Alarm volume
Phone ringtone
Live Caption
Spatial audio
Now Playing
Media
Vibration & haptics
Default notification sound
Default alarm sound
Clear Calling
Dial pad tones
Screen locking sound
Charging sounds and vibration
Tap & click sounds
Always show icon when in vibrate mode
Sound & Vibration Settings in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 Volume Audio will play on Media volume Call volume Ring volume Notification volume Alarm volume
Vibration & haptics
Sound patterns Phone ringtone Default notification sound Default alarm sound
Audio Spatial Audio Media
System sounds & vibrations Dial pad tones Screen locking sound Charging sounds and vibration Tap & click sounds Always show icon when in vibrate mode Live Caption Adaptive Sound Now Playing Clear Calling
I'm glad to see Google finally start to tidy up Android's sound settings in Android 16 QPR1. This is something I complained about back in 2023, as I noticed Google was reorganizing many other pages in the Settings app while leaving the Sound & vibration page untouched. The Material 3 Expressive redesign, which places menu items in separate cards, goes a long way in making the Settings app feel less cluttered. However, the Sound & vibration page previously undermined this by keeping all its options in one long, vertical list. While the new page still has too many settings under the 'system sounds & vibrations' section at the bottom, it's much better than before.
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