- Android 16 adds the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts.
- We previously spotted evidence for this feature in Android 16 Beta 1, but it’s now live in Android 16 Beta 2.
- While you can’t assign custom key combinations to every available shortcut, you can customize many of them.
As part of its efforts to make Android work better for tablets and PCs, Google is improving Android’s support for physical keyboards. To make navigating the OS with a physical keyboard easier, Android offers a number of shortcuts that control system actions, can launch applications, and more. These shortcuts are triggered by entering specific key combinations, such as “Meta + H” to go to the home screen. Starting in Android 16, the key combinations used to trigger these shortcuts can finally be customized.
Earlier this month, we spotted code in the first beta of Android 16 that hinted at a new keyboard shortcut customization feature. Following the release of Android 16 Beta 2 last week, we noticed that this option is now live, giving us the opportunity to demonstrate it.