Old Location icon returns to Quick Settings

Besides a slew of bug fixes, Android 16 QPR1 Beta 3.1 makes one change to the Location Quick Settings Tile.

In Android 16 (and earlier versions of the OS), Quick Settings used a pin icon for the Location Tile. This is also what appears in the status bar when location services are in use. The inspiration is clearly the Google Maps icon.

The QPR1 Betas tried a cursor-esque arrow icon for the QS Tile, but did not change the pin that appeared in the status bar.

Beta 3 vs. Beta 3.1

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With Beta 3.1, Quick Settings has reverted to the pin icon for a consistent look. This appears to be the only interface change in this patch (which is still on the July 2025 security level), while there are 24 bug fixes:

• Device instability or reboots related to Wi-Fi by improving how the system processes network statistics. (Issue #433037402, Issue #432867183, Issue #433418936, Issue #432795362, Issue #432770117, Issue #432699126, Issue #435489862, Issue #435011484)
• The Context Hub, a low-power sensor component, would crash due to excessive use of main memory, causing device instability; resolved by optimizing memory allocation and preventing memory leaks. ( Issue #420999948, Issue #426316038)
• The home screen sometimes lost its bottom row of pinned apps and the search bar, making them inaccessible; this was fixed by adjusting how these elements reappear after screen transitions. (Issue #428088033, Issue #428405658, Issue #429817851)
• Notifications would overlap in the shade, hindering readability, by refining the notification display and dismissal animation logic. (Issue #421792538, Issue #422749237, Issue #420418750, Issue #428896474)
• An issue that caused unexpected device restarts. (Issue #427676713)
• The Quick Settings UI on unfolded foldable devices appeared clipped or misaligned due to incorrect padding caused by double-counting the camera cutout. (Issue #419184923, Issue #421879049, Issue #421810067, Issue #423172198, Issue #422560004, Issue #424116279)
• An issue that caused devices to unexpectedly reboot. (Issue #408888279, Issue #409949346, Issue #409960197, Issue #410624610, Issue #407373090, Issue #430095518)
• The status bar appearing in the Quick Settings shade was sometimes misaligned with the standard status bar, causing a visual inconsistency. (Issue #419573315, Issue #419134909, Issue #432794874)
• Addressed a system hang or crash, particularly during unlock, caused by the camera’s Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) read getting stuck, by implementing a non-blocking method for sensor data retrieval. (Issue #421870862, Issue #420725698)
• The media player on the lock screen would sometimes disappear or become unresponsive. (Issue #420517884)
• An issue where the notification shade displayed a large, growing gap, obscuring notifications, by correcting how notification animations were clipped. (Issue #421366916)
• An issue where the media player notification could appear clipped or disappear during device rotation, by improving how its display area is sized and updated in UI transitions. (Issue #433040374)
• Video calls initiated from voice calls no longer experience muted audio; a system audio fix now correctly manages sound output during call type transitions. (Issue #434139133, Issue #427060263, Issue #438414975)
• An issue where black translucent bars appeared at the top and bottom of the home screen after exiting full-screen apps by correcting how transient system bar states were cleared. (Issue #425407737, Issue #433929827)
• An issue that caused the device to unexpectedly crash and restart during an OTA update.
• An issue causing occasional device restarts after system updates.
• Widgets on the home screen sometimes failed to load due to looking for outdated app files.
• Typing occasionally stopped working in apps because internal input system processes could race.
• Device crashes caused by the Context Hub running out of memory.
• Bluetooth crashes and instability caused by an “Unimplemented Packet Type” error have been resolved.
• An issue that could cause phone disconnections or system crashes during calls by resolving a memory corruption bug in audio data buffer handling related to audio playback speed changes.
• A brief screen flicker happened when launching apps from the notification shade.
• A system crash that could occur when using your device’s media features, especially when connected to a computer for media transfer, by improving the internal handling of media connection resources.

This should be the absolute final beta before the consumer launch that presumably comes in early September for existing Pixel devices.