---
title: 'Top 5 Android 17 Features: I Swear It''s New!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=QrT4S9i3agE'
video_id: 'QrT4S9i3agE'
date: 2026-06-24
duration_sec: 0
---

# Top 5 Android 17 Features: I Swear It's New!

> Source: [Top 5 Android 17 Features: I Swear It's New!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=QrT4S9i3agE)

## Summary

The video presents the top five features of Android 17 (Cinnamon Bun), focusing on small but meaningful user experience improvements rather than a major overhaul. The creator expresses nostalgia for the public dessert naming tradition and highlights Google's recent trend of listening to user feedback through these refinements.

### Key Points

- **Nature of Android Updates** [00:15] — The creator argues that Android updates are no longer massive overhauls but rather small cosmetic and quality-of-life changes.
- **Android 17 Codename** [01:36] — Android 17 is codenamed Cinnamon Bun internally, continuing the tradition of dessert names for developers.
- **Screen Reactions Feature** [02:06] — Users can record screen reactions with a selfie camera overlay that can be moved and resized.
- **Game Mode for Foldables** [02:37] — Foldable devices get a game mode with split-screen: game on one side, gamepad on the other.
- **Bubble Bar Multitasking** [03:14] — The bubble bar allows up to four apps in floating windows that can minimize to bubbles for multitasking.
- **Aesthetic Tweaks Collection** [03:50] — Includes hiding app labels, reduced whitespace in settings, consistent transparency, and customizable dark mode per app. The notification text changes to 'You're all caught up' with a trophy.
- **Android 17 Easter Egg** [05:10] — After tapping Android 17 multiple times, users connect stars in a constellation pattern to reveal the logo, then hold it to enter a retro asteroids game Easter egg.
- **Wi-Fi and Mobile Data Toggle Separation** [05:56] — Wi-Fi and mobile data toggles are finally separated in quick settings, allowing direct on/off with a single tap.
- **Search Bar Customization** [06:47] — The persistent search bar on the home screen can now be customized for transparency and theme color via long press.
- **Upcoming Features** [07:34] — Future features include natural language widget creation, improved speech-to-text (Rambler), and a digital well-being tool (Pause Point).

## Transcript

All right, so I do one of these videos
for every new Android version. Top five
features for what to expect [music] so
you have a better idea of what will be
coming to your phone if it's a Pixel
very soon. If it's not a Pixel
someday. But we all know these aren't
massive generational overhaul updates
anymore. Those days are few and far
between. Instead now it's more usually
like the small cosmetic stuff and little
tweaks and quality of life things here
and there. Back in the day that would
have all been like a dot one update. But
since it's 2026 it's an entirely new
Android version, Android 17, Cinnamon
Bun. Now I know what you're thinking.
Hold on a second. Wait. What? Did the
Did the names come back? When did the
names come back? The names aren't back
but I'm trying to bring them back. Do
you remember when every new Android
version was named after an alphabetical
dessert and the biggest surprise of
every IO was going to be them unveiling
what the dessert name would be. I mean
we had classics like Cupcake, Donut,
Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread. And then as
the letters went on they got more and
more playful with it. Nougat, Oreo, Pie.
Then they got to Q and so you know I can
understand not coming up with a dessert
name just for Q.
But then after that they just went
straight to the numbers. They stopped
the names. They just went Android 13,
Android 14, Android 15. But internally
Google has actually kept doing the
internal dessert code names. And you can
look on Wikipedia. You can see after Q
there was Red Velvet Cake, Snow Cone,
Tiramisu, Upside Down Cake, Vanilla Ice
Cream. And then I guess they just
skipped WXYZ and A for some reason. And
now here we are at Cinnamon Bun. Android
16 was Baklava. So actually if you get
any system notification that's what this
little glyph here was meant to be. And
so sure enough if you get any system
notifications in Android 17 there's a
little cinnamon bun. Proof that somebody
at Google still cares about this. Bring
back the public dessert names Google.
It's more fun this way. Anyway, these
are my top five features on the publicly
available Android 17 on my Pixel
in my order. So, number five, screen
reactions are a built-in feature now.
You go in and start a screen recording,
and now you can just tick the show
selfie camera option, and you get live
keyed-in a version of yourself that you
can move around and make bigger,
smaller, and then record on the spot,
which is very convenient. Now, I'll be
honest, I never made these types of
videos, so I don't know if this is
sherlocking some other big app people
are all using to do this, or if they
eventually built it into Instagram or
TikTok at this point. I'm sure they did,
but hey, it just got that much easier,
so nicely done, Google. And number four
is very cool. It's the new game mode on
foldables. So, on Pixel Fold and Z Fold
and all these other foldables that get
Android 17, you'll be able to play games
where half the screen is the game, and
the other half is an on-screen gamepad.
And I'm not even that much of a phone
gamer, but that is really cool, not
going to lie. Now, number three is the
bubbles and the bubble bar.
And I really like saying bubble bar.
Sorry, I'm going to say that a lot, but
the bubble bar is new. So, basically,
any app you can now launch straight into
a floating window that can minimize into
a bubble at any time. This actually
itself isn't new. You could do this with
some messaging-related apps for a while,
but what's new is the ability to have up
to four bubbles open at once of
different apps, and then kind of treat
it like a multitasking hub over the top
of whatever else is going on in the
background. But, this bubble bar can be
very useful. Imagine taking notes over
the top of a YouTube video playing. I
imagine I'm not the only freak that
actually writes notes instead of having
like Gemini summarize everything for me,
cuz the bubble bar seems perfect for
that.
Anyway, separate but related feature,
the new screen recording UI, I think
kind of looks like it was inspired by
the bubble bar. With the new pill at the
top, it's not actually one of the
bubbles, but does feel thematically in
line. Makes you think. So, then number
two is this whole collection of what I'm
going to call aesthetic tweaks. And
again, it's not some big overhaul. This
isn't like a new liquid glass or
anything crazy like that, but it is a
good collection of things where it feels
like somebody is going through and being
very thoughtful about little things that
could be better or that should be a
little different. Like I like that you
can hide app labels now on the home
screen for a super clean look in the
stock launcher. I feel like that's long
overdue. I also like that there is a bit
less empty white space between options
in some of the more buried settings.
Like that's a subtle thing, but it's
nicely considered. It was getting to be
a little bit much before.
And then there's actually a little bit
of transparency added here now. Not full
on liquid glass levels again, but just
more adding it to more places for
consistency. So, the app drawer already
had it. The quick settings already had
it. Now, the widget picker has it as
well. So, you can see a little bit of
that wallpaper peeking through there as
you pick your widgets.
You can choose exactly which apps
automatically open in the expanded dark
mode theme now instead of just
everything. You can have certain apps
that always come up in dark mode.
And then it it's such a small thing, but
when you finish going through
notifications in Android 16, it would
just have a little text that says, "No
notifications." In Android 17, it says,
"You're all caught up." and gives you a
nice little trophy. Which is nice. Now,
before we get to number one, I of course
need to show you the new Android 17
Easter egg, which this year is an
incredibly complicated puzzle. So, you
do the classic five taps on Android 17,
and then it takes you into this weird
constellation type thing with a ring of
stars. And I stared at this for hours
trying to figure out, "What does it
mean? What type of symbols do I have to
draw here? What sort of patterns are
going to make this work?" And uh no,
just kidding. You basically just connect
them all together in literally any way,
and then the Android 17 logo pops up.
And then you hold that down for a few
seconds to get into the same Easter egg
as previous years, which is this little
asteroids game where you pilot this
little spaceship around. It's a fun
time. So then, the number one feature of
Android 17
is that they've finally separated the
Wi-Fi and mobile data toggles in quick
settings. Thank god. I don't know why,
but a couple years ago they decided for
some reason to merge them together into
one internet toggle that you had to
click into and then click again to
toggle either Wi-Fi or mobile data. So
finally in Android 17, they heard us,
they listened to us, and they separated
back out a Wi-Fi toggle and a mobile
data toggle in quick settings. You can
tap just the icon to turn it on or off,
or tap the words to enter that full menu
and connect to different networks. It's
about damn time they brought this back.
Now, obviously this isn't the number one
biggest change to Android 17, but it
does feel like it's part of a nice theme
of Google actually listening to users
and just making little tweak type things
at the surface level that make Android
nicer to use. Like here's another one.
In Android 16, there's a permanent
search button on the bottom of your home
screen. You can't get rid of it. Now,
they had this cool customization that
let you change transparency and theme
color of the widget,
but that was only if you added a second
search widget to your home screen, it
would customize that one, which makes no
sense. Why would anyone add a second
search widget? Why can't you customize
the first one that you can't get rid of?
Well, in Android 17, now you long press
it and you actually can. You can change
the transparency and customize that
first one straight away. Still can't
remove it, but that's better than
nothing. And so there's there's so many
other little things like that. There's
slightly bouncier, more exaggerated
animations in quick settings and in
multitasking. And little performance
tweaks here and there throughout.
There's also more stuff coming, too,
like the ability to make new widgets
from scratch using natural language.
When they add that, that's going to be
sick, I I
And Rambler, which they talked about at
IO, which is going to be even better
speech-to-text. And pause point as well,
which is another digital well-being
tool. Stuff like this makes me want to
switch to the Pixel again and take the
plunge
before I come back to my senses and I
remember the type of pain that that can
turn into. I am once again hoping for
Tensor to take a massive leap forward
with the next generation of Pixel
phones.
But I've been hurt before, so I'm not
going to cross my fingers. Anyway, if
you just got Android 17 to update the
inside of your Pixel, then it might be
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everything out for yourself. [music]
Thanks for watching
and I'll cinnamon bun you later.
Peace.
>> [music]