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

[00:02] All right, so I do one of these videos

[00:03] for every new Android version. Top five

[00:05] features for what to expect [music] so

[00:07] you have a better idea of what will be

[00:08] coming to your phone if it's a Pixel

[00:10] very soon. If it's not a Pixel

[00:13] someday. But we all know these aren't

[00:15] massive generational overhaul updates

[00:18] anymore. Those days are few and far

[00:20] between. Instead now it's more usually

[00:22] like the small cosmetic stuff and little

[00:24] tweaks and quality of life things here

[00:26] and there. Back in the day that would

[00:28] have all been like a dot one update. But

[00:31] since it's 2026 it's an entirely new

[00:33] Android version, Android 17, Cinnamon

[00:36] Bun. Now I know what you're thinking.

[00:37] Hold on a second. Wait. What? Did the

[00:39] Did the names come back? When did the

[00:40] names come back? The names aren't back

[00:43] but I'm trying to bring them back. Do

[00:44] you remember when every new Android

[00:46] version was named after an alphabetical

[00:48] dessert and the biggest surprise of

[00:50] every IO was going to be them unveiling

[00:52] what the dessert name would be. I mean

[00:54] we had classics like Cupcake, Donut,

[00:57] Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread. And then as

[01:00] the letters went on they got more and

[01:01] more playful with it. Nougat, Oreo, Pie.

[01:05] Then they got to Q and so you know I can

[01:07] understand not coming up with a dessert

[01:09] name just for Q.

[01:11] But then after that they just went

[01:12] straight to the numbers. They stopped

[01:14] the names. They just went Android 13,

[01:16] Android 14, Android 15. But internally

[01:20] Google has actually kept doing the

[01:22] internal dessert code names. And you can

[01:24] look on Wikipedia. You can see after Q

[01:26] there was Red Velvet Cake, Snow Cone,

[01:29] Tiramisu, Upside Down Cake, Vanilla Ice

[01:32] Cream. And then I guess they just

[01:34] skipped WXYZ and A for some reason. And

[01:37] now here we are at Cinnamon Bun. Android

[01:39] 16 was Baklava. So actually if you get

[01:42] any system notification that's what this

[01:44] little glyph here was meant to be. And

[01:47] so sure enough if you get any system

[01:48] notifications in Android 17 there's a

[01:51] little cinnamon bun. Proof that somebody

[01:53] at Google still cares about this. Bring

[01:55] back the public dessert names Google.

[01:57] It's more fun this way. Anyway, these

[01:59] are my top five features on the publicly

[02:01] available Android 17 on my Pixel

[02:04] in my order. So, number five, screen

[02:06] reactions are a built-in feature now.

[02:08] You go in and start a screen recording,

[02:10] and now you can just tick the show

[02:11] selfie camera option, and you get live

[02:14] keyed-in a version of yourself that you

[02:16] can move around and make bigger,

[02:18] smaller, and then record on the spot,

[02:21] which is very convenient. Now, I'll be

[02:23] honest, I never made these types of

[02:24] videos, so I don't know if this is

[02:26] sherlocking some other big app people

[02:28] are all using to do this, or if they

[02:29] eventually built it into Instagram or

[02:30] TikTok at this point. I'm sure they did,

[02:32] but hey, it just got that much easier,

[02:34] so nicely done, Google. And number four

[02:37] is very cool. It's the new game mode on

[02:39] foldables. So, on Pixel Fold and Z Fold

[02:41] and all these other foldables that get

[02:42] Android 17, you'll be able to play games

[02:44] where half the screen is the game, and

[02:46] the other half is an on-screen gamepad.

[02:49] And I'm not even that much of a phone

[02:51] gamer, but that is really cool, not

[02:53] going to lie. Now, number three is the

[02:55] bubbles and the bubble bar.

[02:58] And I really like saying bubble bar.

[02:59] Sorry, I'm going to say that a lot, but

[03:01] the bubble bar is new. So, basically,

[03:02] any app you can now launch straight into

[03:04] a floating window that can minimize into

[03:07] a bubble at any time. This actually

[03:09] itself isn't new. You could do this with

[03:10] some messaging-related apps for a while,

[03:12] but what's new is the ability to have up

[03:15] to four bubbles open at once of

[03:18] different apps, and then kind of treat

[03:19] it like a multitasking hub over the top

[03:22] of whatever else is going on in the

[03:23] background. But, this bubble bar can be

[03:25] very useful. Imagine taking notes over

[03:27] the top of a YouTube video playing. I

[03:30] imagine I'm not the only freak that

[03:31] actually writes notes instead of having

[03:33] like Gemini summarize everything for me,

[03:36] cuz the bubble bar seems perfect for

[03:38] that.

[03:39] Anyway, separate but related feature,

[03:40] the new screen recording UI, I think

[03:42] kind of looks like it was inspired by

[03:43] the bubble bar. With the new pill at the

[03:45] top, it's not actually one of the

[03:46] bubbles, but does feel thematically in

[03:49] line. Makes you think. So, then number

[03:50] two is this whole collection of what I'm

[03:53] going to call aesthetic tweaks. And

[03:56] again, it's not some big overhaul. This

[03:57] isn't like a new liquid glass or

[03:59] anything crazy like that, but it is a

[04:00] good collection of things where it feels

[04:02] like somebody is going through and being

[04:04] very thoughtful about little things that

[04:07] could be better or that should be a

[04:08] little different. Like I like that you

[04:10] can hide app labels now on the home

[04:11] screen for a super clean look in the

[04:14] stock launcher. I feel like that's long

[04:15] overdue. I also like that there is a bit

[04:18] less empty white space between options

[04:20] in some of the more buried settings.

[04:22] Like that's a subtle thing, but it's

[04:24] nicely considered. It was getting to be

[04:25] a little bit much before.

[04:27] And then there's actually a little bit

[04:28] of transparency added here now. Not full

[04:30] on liquid glass levels again, but just

[04:33] more adding it to more places for

[04:35] consistency. So, the app drawer already

[04:38] had it. The quick settings already had

[04:40] it. Now, the widget picker has it as

[04:42] well. So, you can see a little bit of

[04:43] that wallpaper peeking through there as

[04:44] you pick your widgets.

[04:46] You can choose exactly which apps

[04:47] automatically open in the expanded dark

[04:49] mode theme now instead of just

[04:51] everything. You can have certain apps

[04:52] that always come up in dark mode.

[04:54] And then it it's such a small thing, but

[04:56] when you finish going through

[04:57] notifications in Android 16, it would

[04:58] just have a little text that says, "No

[05:00] notifications." In Android 17, it says,

[05:03] "You're all caught up." and gives you a

[05:04] nice little trophy. Which is nice. Now,

[05:06] before we get to number one, I of course

[05:07] need to show you the new Android 17

[05:11] Easter egg, which this year is an

[05:13] incredibly complicated puzzle. So, you

[05:16] do the classic five taps on Android 17,

[05:19] and then it takes you into this weird

[05:21] constellation type thing with a ring of

[05:24] stars. And I stared at this for hours

[05:27] trying to figure out, "What does it

[05:28] mean? What type of symbols do I have to

[05:31] draw here? What sort of patterns are

[05:33] going to make this work?" And uh no,

[05:35] just kidding. You basically just connect

[05:37] them all together in literally any way,

[05:39] and then the Android 17 logo pops up.

[05:41] And then you hold that down for a few

[05:42] seconds to get into the same Easter egg

[05:45] as previous years, which is this little

[05:47] asteroids game where you pilot this

[05:49] little spaceship around. It's a fun

[05:51] time. So then, the number one feature of

[05:53] Android 17

[05:56] is that they've finally separated the

[05:58] Wi-Fi and mobile data toggles in quick

[06:02] settings. Thank god. I don't know why,

[06:05] but a couple years ago they decided for

[06:06] some reason to merge them together into

[06:08] one internet toggle that you had to

[06:10] click into and then click again to

[06:12] toggle either Wi-Fi or mobile data. So

[06:14] finally in Android 17, they heard us,

[06:17] they listened to us, and they separated

[06:19] back out a Wi-Fi toggle and a mobile

[06:21] data toggle in quick settings. You can

[06:23] tap just the icon to turn it on or off,

[06:26] or tap the words to enter that full menu

[06:28] and connect to different networks. It's

[06:29] about damn time they brought this back.

[06:31] Now, obviously this isn't the number one

[06:32] biggest change to Android 17, but it

[06:35] does feel like it's part of a nice theme

[06:37] of Google actually listening to users

[06:40] and just making little tweak type things

[06:43] at the surface level that make Android

[06:45] nicer to use. Like here's another one.

[06:47] In Android 16, there's a permanent

[06:49] search button on the bottom of your home

[06:51] screen. You can't get rid of it. Now,

[06:52] they had this cool customization that

[06:54] let you change transparency and theme

[06:56] color of the widget,

[06:58] but that was only if you added a second

[07:01] search widget to your home screen, it

[07:03] would customize that one, which makes no

[07:06] sense. Why would anyone add a second

[07:07] search widget? Why can't you customize

[07:09] the first one that you can't get rid of?

[07:11] Well, in Android 17, now you long press

[07:14] it and you actually can. You can change

[07:16] the transparency and customize that

[07:18] first one straight away. Still can't

[07:20] remove it, but that's better than

[07:22] nothing. And so there's there's so many

[07:23] other little things like that. There's

[07:24] slightly bouncier, more exaggerated

[07:26] animations in quick settings and in

[07:28] multitasking. And little performance

[07:30] tweaks here and there throughout.

[07:32] There's also more stuff coming, too,

[07:34] like the ability to make new widgets

[07:36] from scratch using natural language.

[07:38] When they add that, that's going to be

[07:39] sick, I I

[07:40] And Rambler, which they talked about at

[07:42] IO, which is going to be even better

[07:44] speech-to-text. And pause point as well,

[07:46] which is another digital well-being

[07:48] tool. Stuff like this makes me want to

[07:50] switch to the Pixel again and take the

[07:52] plunge

[07:54] before I come back to my senses and I

[07:55] remember the type of pain that that can

[07:57] turn into. I am once again hoping for

[07:59] Tensor to take a massive leap forward

[08:01] with the next generation of Pixel

[08:03] phones.

[08:04] But I've been hurt before, so I'm not

[08:06] going to cross my fingers. Anyway, if

[08:08] you just got Android 17 to update the

[08:10] inside of your Pixel, then it might be

[08:11] time to do the same with the outside,

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[09:10] It's classic. I'll leave a link down in

[09:11] the description so you can check

[09:12] everything out for yourself. [music]

[09:13] Thanks for watching

[09:15] and I'll cinnamon bun you later.

[09:18] Peace.

[09:20] >> [music]