Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL; DR
- Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3 has a new media app switcher interface in notifications and lock screen.
- It replaces the old carousel-style layout with a new card layout.
- In addition to swiping, users can also tap cards to switch between media apps.
Google is released Android 17 QPR1 Beta 3 It comes as a surprise announcement at I/O 2026 and it comes with a number of changes and new features. Among many New features in Android 17 a relatively small but notable change in media controls.
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Media controls in Android 17 now have a new UI. While Android 16 lets users scroll through multiple media apps like a carousel, the latest beta minimizes other media apps to small cards on the sides.
I personally like the look. It makes it more obvious to users that they can switch between media apps, and I find tap controls better than swiping, especially since the media player uses swipe gestures to control the search bar. That said, swiping from one card to another is still an option.
Android now ranks media apps in the carousel in descending order of importance. So you’ll see media played locally first, followed by media played on remote devices and past resumable sessions.
I accidentally moved my music forward while scrolling through the carousel-style layout to switch apps more than once. It’s not a pleasant experience, and this new pill-style formulation should prevent such mishaps.
There is some concern that the media controls are even smaller with the other two tablets that occupy the sides of the media player. If Google allowed users to resize media controls, we could solve this problem too.
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