Notification Dots coming to Android O, Allowing you to see Notifications from the Home Screen

Android O is the next major version of Google's Android OS after Android 7.0 Nougat. We already have one sneak peak at the software thanks to the first Android O Developer Preview, and today Google announced the Android O Beta Program so we'll likely see more new features when we get a hands on of the Beta. But before that, Google teased a new feature coming to Android O called Notification Dots.

Now, many of us spend time looking at our beautiful home screens. Notification badges have been a staple feature of alternative third-party launchers such as Nova Launcher for years now, but it appears that Notification Dots is Google's take on badges.

As you can see in the feature image, there's a dot showing on the Instagram icon. When you pull down the status bar, you can indeed see that there is a pending Instagram notification. But Notification Dots goes beyond the badge concept as you can also long-press on the app icon to see the notification without pulling down your status bar. For really long devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, this certainly beats having to pull down the status bar every time – assuming that this feature ever makes its way onto those devices, of course.

This feature is likely not enough to steer you away from Nova Launcher, Evie Launcher, Action Launcher, or any of the dozens of other great third-party launchers on the Play Store, but we hope that we'll see these launchers start to support this feature on their own at a later date.

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