The 2020 iteration of the Android operating system — known as Android 11 — is stable and official! Anyone who owns a supported Google Pixel device should already have the update. The new version should also arrive soon on devices from other manufacturers, including OnePlus, Xiaomi, Realme, and more.
For better or worse, Android 11 looks and feels very similar to Android 10. As such, you might not notice many differences when you first boot it up. That’s where this helpful guide comes in! Below, you’ll find over a dozen new features that make this latest version of the operating system the best yet.
Keep in mind that this list doesn’t cover every new feature. There are plenty of smaller updates as well as new features geared more towards developers instead of the general user. What’s listed here are the biggest changes that every user should know about.
In Android 10, the notification drawer contains all your notifications in a seemingly-haphazard list. Certain apps tend to get prioritized and shot to the top of the list, but there doesn’t appear to be any specific reason why. Meanwhile, lower-priority notifications get moved down to the silent section, which doesn’t send out any alerts.
In Android 11, that system changes. There are now three notification categories: Conversations, Alerting, and Silent. The Conversations section, quite obviously, houses all your conversations. This would mean any app where you are directly communicating with someone else, including text messages and chat apps. It would also apply to direct messages within other apps, such as Instagram.
Android 11 compatible phones
These are the phones that are currently compatible with Android 11:
- Google Pixel 2 / 2 XL
- Google Pixel 3 / 3 XL
- Google Pixel 3a / 3a XL
- Google Pixel 4 / 4 XL
- Google Pixel 4a
- Xiaomi Mi 10 / Mi 10 Pro