Android Canary’s May release is going hard on the blur effects

We’re just days away from Google I/O 2026, but you won’t have to wait for the big developer event to get started to have your chance to preview Android’s latest advancements. Just moments ago, Google announced its new Android Canary 2605 release for testers.

Today’s build arrives precisely one month after Android Canary 2604 landed for Pixel hardware, and is available for Pixel 6 and later devices. To get started, you can just install the appropriate Canary image for your hardware with Google’s Android flash tool — with the very large caveat there that you’re OK with wiping all your phone’s existing data.

What’s new in Android Canary 2605?

Over on X, Google’s Mishaal Rahman is hyping up today’s release, pointing out all the blurry new UI effects popping up — it’s not Liquid Glass, but compassions are inevitable.

In addition to that new aesthetic, we’re also spotting some familiar changes to the system’s interface, like this new look for Date & time settings that first surfaced in Google’s Android 17 QPR1 Beta 2:

Other changes are more of a tease. Remember that new option for hiding the search bar on your home screen that we also unearthed in QPR1 Beta 2? Well, the option itself isn’t showing up in this new Canary, but the screen it lives on — this Search bar settings page — is now present:

That’s all we’ve found for now, but we’ll keep looking for additional changes. Stay tuned!