Seamlessly join meetings on Google Meet hardware with “Connect room”

What’s changing

In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce Connect room, a new way to seamlessly begin your meetings on Google Meet hardware directly from your personal device. This will be available in early preview.

Connect room streamlines how you start meetings in a conference room. Instead of manually typing a meeting code, this feature uses ultrasound proximity detection to identify a nearby, available Google Meet hardware device.

When you open the Google Meet green room on your laptop, it will automatically detect the room and present a simple option to connect to it. With a single click, the meeting starts on the room hardware, and your laptop transitions into Companion mode, getting you checked-in and ready to collaborate without missing a beat.


After clicking Connect room, your meeting is started on the room device while your laptop joins in companion mode and checks you into the room.


Google Meet updates the “Use Companion mode” to “Connect room” when it detects a nearby room to start a meeting.
This feature simplifies the meeting join experience. In particular, you can now:

  • Take over a booked, but empty conference room: If a conference room is reserved but unoccupied, open your meeting on your laptop, click “Connect room,” and you can immediately start your meeting on the Google Meet hardware.
  • Join and book an available conference room in one click: If you find an available and bookable conference room and wish to use it, simply open your meeting on your laptop, click “Connect room,” and the Google Meet hardware will instantly join the meeting, simultaneously booking the room for your use.
  • Join private meetings more easily: Simply open a meeting invite on your device, click “Connect room,” and instantly join the meeting directly on Google Meet hardware.
  • Join a meeting not listed on the conference room calendar: If you were sent a Google Meet invitation in chat or email, open your meeting on your laptop, click “Connect room,” and you can immediately start your meeting on the Google Meet hardware.

Additional details

Users on the Rapid Release track will start seeing this feature for devices enrolled in our Early Preview Rooms (EPR) program starting on on December 2, 2025. We’ll share more details on the Workspace Updates blog when we begin a broader rollout.

Getting started

  • Admins: To preview this feature, your domain must be on the Rapid Release track and have devices enrolled in our EPR program. In addition, this feature relies on Google Meet hardware’s Proximity Detection device setting, which is ON by default. For this feature to work, you must enable Proximity Detection on your fleet's devices. In-room booking must also be enabled for Connect room to automatically book the room when joining the call.
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for users on the Rapid Release track entering a room with enabled hardware. To use the feature, ensure your laptop microphone is selected in the greenroom, then simply click "Connect room" when the prompt appears. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

A refreshed user interface for Google Meet hardware touch controllers

What’s changing

In the coming weeks, we’ll roll out a streamlined user interface for the following Meet Hardware devices: Mimo Vue HD, Mimo Mist, Logitech Tap, Logitech Tap IP, and Lenovo Series One Touch controllers (with Android devices coming soon). This new experience will offer users a more efficient and intuitive way to manage their meetings. It includes:

1.Simplified access to key controls: The controls you use most frequently inside a meeting, like mute and hand raise, are now more prominent and easily accessible. This means less time spent searching for features and more time focusing on your meeting.

2. Intuitively organized features:

  • In-meeting experience: If you need to access more advanced features, like camera controls or the meeting layout, you can now find them conveniently under the “More actions” menu. This keeps the main interface clean and uncluttered while ensuring less frequently used features are still accessible when you need them.
  • Pre-call experience: A refreshed pre-call meeting design prominently features the option to enter a meeting code or nickname, and includes a clear drop-down menu for joining Webex or Zoom meetings, streamlining your connection process.

3. A familiar interface: The touch controller UI will look and feel more similar to the Google Meet UI on the web, making your transition more intuitive.




New touch controller in-meeting experience

Getting started

  • Admins: The new experience will be ON by default. There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This new experience will be ON by default for eligible Meet Hardware devices in your meeting rooms.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

Android 16 QPR2 is Released

Posted by Matthew McCullough, VP of Product Management, Android Developer






Faster Innovation with Android's first Minor SDK Release

Today we're releasing Android 16 QPR2, bringing a host of enhancements to user experience, developer productivity, and media capabilities. It marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Android platform as the first release to utilize a minor SDK version.


A Milestone for Platform Evolution: The Minor SDK Release


Minor SDK releases allow us to deliver APIs and features more rapidly outside of the major yearly platform release cadence, ensuring that the platform and your apps can innovate faster with new functionality. Unlike major releases that may include behavior changes impacting app compatibility, the changes in QPR2 are largely additive, minimizing the need for regression testing. Behavior changes in QPR2 are largely focused on security or accessibility, such as SMS OTP protection, or the support for the expanded dark theme.

To support this, we have introduced new fields to the Build class as of Android 16, allowing your app to check for these new APIs using SDK_INT_FULL and VERSION_CODES_FULL.

if ((Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.BAKLAVA) && (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT_FULL >= Build.VERSION_CODES_FULL.BAKLAVA_1)) {
    // Call new APIs from the Android 16 QPR2 release
}

Enhanced User Experience and Customization

QPR2 improves Android's personalization and accessibility, giving users more control over how their devices look and feel.

Expanded Dark Theme

To create a more consistent user experience for users who have low vision, photosensitivity, or simply those who prefer a dark system-wide appearance, QPR2 introduced an expanded option under dark theme.

The old Fitbit app showing the impact of expanded dark theme; the new Fitbit app directly supports a dark theme

When the expanded dark theme setting is enabled by a user, the system uses your app's isLightTheme theme attribute to determine whether to apply inversion. If your app inherits from one of the standard DayNight themes, this is done automatically for you. If it does not, make sure to declare isLightTheme="false" in your dark theme to ensure your app is not inadvertently inverted. Standard Android Views, Composables, and WebViews will be inverted, while custom rendering engines like Flutter will not.

This is largely intended as an accessibility feature. We strongly recommend implementing a native dark theme, which gives you full control over your app's appearance; you can protect your brand's identity, ensure text is readable, and prevent visual glitches from happening when your UI is automatically inverted, guaranteeing a polished, reliable experience for your users.

Custom Icon Shapes & Auto-Theming

In QPR2, users can select specific shapes for their app icons, which apply to all icons and folder previews. Additionally, if your app does not provide a dedicated themed icon, the system can now automatically generate one by applying a color filtering algorithm to your existing launcher icon.

Custom Icon Shapes

Test Icon Shape & Color in Android Studio

Automatic system icon color filtering

Interactive Chooser Sessions

The sharing experience is now more dynamic. Apps can keep the UI interactive even when the system sharesheet is open, allowing for real-time content updates within the Chooser.

Boosting Your Productivity and App Performance

We are introducing tools and updates designed to streamline your workflow and improve app performance.

Linux Development Environment with GUI Applications

The Linux development environment feature has been expanded to support running Linux GUI applications directly within the terminal environment.

Wilber, the GIMP mascot, designed by Aryeom Han, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The screenshot of the GIMP interface is used with courtesy.

Generational Garbage Collection

The Android Runtime (ART) now includes a Generational Concurrent Mark-Compact (CMC) Garbage Collector. This focuses collection on newly allocated objects, resulting in reduced CPU usage and improved battery efficiency.

Widget Engagement Metrics

You can now query user interaction events—such as clicks, scrolls, and impressions—to better understand how users engage with your widgets.

16KB Page Size Readiness

To help prepare for future architecture requirements, we have added early warning dialogs for debuggable apps that are not 16KB page-aligned.


Media, Connectivity, and Health

QPR2 brings robust updates to media standards and device connectivity.

IAMF and Audio Sharing

We have added software decoding support for Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF), an open-source spatial audio format. Additionally, Personal Audio Sharing for Bluetooth LE Audio is now integrated directly into the system Output Switcher.


Health Connect Updates

Health Connect now automatically tracks steps using the device's sensors. If your app has the READ_STEPS permission, this data will be available from the "android" package. Not only does this simplify the code needed to do step tracking, it's also more power efficient. It also can now track weight, set index, and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) in exercise segments.

Smoother Migrations

A new 3rd-party Data Transfer API enables more reliable data migration between Android and iOS devices.

Strengthening Privacy and Security

Security remains a top priority with new features designed to protect user data and device integrity.

Developer Verification

We introduced APIs to support developer verification during app installation along with new ADB commands to simulate verification outcomes. As a developer, you are free to install apps without verification by using ADB, so you can continue to test apps that are not intended or not yet ready to distribute to the wider consumer population.

SMS OTP Protection

The delivery of messages containing an SMS retriever hash will be delayed for most apps for three hours to help prevent OTP hijacking. The RECEIVE_SMS broadcast will be withheld and sms provider database queries will be filtered. The SMS will be available to these apps after the three hour delay.

Secure Lock Device

A new system-level security state, Secure Lock Device, is being introduced. When enabled (e.g., remotely via "Find My Device"), the device locks immediately and requires the primary PIN, pattern, or password to unlock, heightening security. When active, notifications and quick affordances on the lock screen will be hidden, and biometric unlock may be temporarily disabled.

Get Started

If you're not in the Beta or Canary programs, your Pixel device should get the Android 16 QPR2 release shortly. If you don’t have a Pixel device, you can use the 64-bit system images with the Android Emulator in Android Studio. If you are currently on the Android 16 QPR2 Beta and have not yet installed the Android 16 QPR3 beta, you can opt out of the program and you will then be offered the release version of Android 16 QPR2 over the air.
For the best development experience with Android 16 QPR2, we recommend that you use the latest Canary build of Android Studio Otter.
Thank you again to everyone who participated in our Android beta program. We're looking forward to seeing how your apps take advantage of the updates in Android 16 QPR2.
For complete information on Android 16 QPR2 please visit the Android 16 developer site.