Android 16 could give the lock screen on your Pixel phone a revamped design

Code hidden in the latest Android 16 beta suggests Pixel owners are going to get a new-look lock screen.

Apr 24, 2025 - 16:27

Android 16 could give the lock screen on your Pixel phone a revamped design

A new layout for the Pixel lock screen has been spotted
Parts of the at-a-glance widget could be repositioned
The full Android 16 update is expected to land during June

With Android 16 now rapidly coming over the horizon and straight for our phones, we're learning more and more about the features it's going to bring with it – including, potentially, a revamped design for the lock screen on Pixel devices.

This comes from some digging that Android Authority has done into the latest beta for Android 16. These changes aren't live yet, but they're hidden away in the code, and the team at Android Authority has managed to get them working.

Overall, it's a cleaner, more minimalist look for the lock screen: the handy little at-a-glance widget that Google puts on its Pixel phones, which shows information like upcoming calendar appointments and the current date, gets rearranged.

This widget can be really useful at displaying relevant information without the lock screen needing to be unlocked, so it's important that it's easily readable and accessible. It's not clear yet whether this new layout will be configurable in any way.

Layout changes

Android 16 beta leak — Android Authority was able to get the new layout activated (Image credit: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority)

How the new lock screen looks will depend on what's being displayed. If there are no notifications or widget info snippets (like an upcoming calendar event), the widget's date and time move down under the clock, from its current top left corner position.

If there are info snippets in the widget about events, timers, or anything else, these stay in the top left corner, where they currently are. It makes sense that these details might need a little more prominence in the overall layout.

If there are app notifications on screen, the clock shifts to the top, and the info snippets sit underneath, which is what happens now. However, the date and weather move to the right of the clock, rather than underneath it.

That gives you some more space underneath the clock for incoming notifications – which is helpful, especially if you're getting a lot of them coming in. Android 16 is expected around June time, and we should hear more about it at Google I/O 2025 next month.