Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
Some Pixel owners have found a strange notification bug in Android 16.
Affected users found that notifications don’t play any sounds when there’s already a notification in the dropdown menu.
Google has acknowledged the problem and said a fix is coming in the next Android 16 QPR release.
Google released the stable version of Android 16 back in June, and it brings some welcome features to the platform. Unfortunately, the update has also introduced a peculiar bug for some.
A user posted a report on Google’s Issue Tracker back in June, detailing a strange notification issue in Android 16. More specifically, the user and several others found that notifications don’t play any sounds when there’s already a notification in the notification shade.
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“When testing notifications, we realized that subsequent notifications are not playing any sounds, even when volume has been set to the MAX volume, as well as Do-Not-Disturb override permissions are granted (although this issue exists both when DND mode is on and off),” read an excerpt of the user’s report. “Upon dismissing the notifications, the next notification WILL play a sound.”
The issue doesn’t seem to be restricted to a specific Pixel phone family, either. The thread contains complaints from users with Pixel 6 phones all the way to the Pixel 9 range. Affected users also noted that this issue was particularly annoying for alerts from their alarms, smart cameras, and glucose monitors.
The good news is that Google acknowledged the issue on August 7, adding that a fix was on the way:
Thanks for reporting this issue. It’s fixed internally and will be included in the next quarterly release.
It’s unclear whether this bug fix will be included in Android 16 QPR1 or the QPR2 release. The QPR1 release is expected to land later this month, while QPR2 should arrive in December. So it’s possible this bug could be addressed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, some users have shared workarounds to address the issue, such as paying $4 for the Notification Manager app.
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