Android 16 Beta 4 Makes Media Player Artwork Darker

A curious change in Android 16 Beta 4 sees Google darken artwork in the media player on Pixel devices.

There’s no change to the media player layout, but Android 16 Beta 4 sees the rectangular preview for the artwork get noticeably darker.

This is the case on both the lockscreen and Quick Settings, with the differences quite drastic in some cases. The examples below show YouTube and YouTube Music. There is no difference when switching between the system light and dark themes.

Beta 3 vs. 4

You still get the lava lamp-esque effect when something is playing, but it’s less noticeable. Overall, some might enjoy the more subtle, less distracting look.

It remains to be seen whether this change will make its way to the final release.

Another adjacent change is to the media switcher, with the volume slider adding a dot at the right end in Beta 4. This serves as another end point marker, with other Material 3 volume sliders in Android 16 having already been updated going into this beta.