Google used to name Android versions with dessert codenames, but it strayed away from that tradition with the release of Android 10, where it decided to stick with only the version number for all future releases. So, Android 15 is commonly famous as Android 15. Even so, Google still uses the dessert codenames internally. The internal codename of Android 15 is Vanilla Ice Cream.
Google has started testing Android 15 through Developer Previews, though the final stable release is still several months away. Android 15’s release schedule adds developer previews running through mid-March, followed by beta releases up to May. Android 15 will reach platform stability in June-July, meaning that no new features or APIs will be added to the platform so that app developers can start testing their apps against these public APIs. The upcoming few releases will be concentrating mainly on ironing out bugs.
Google hasn’t talked about when the stable Android 15 builds will be released, but rumors claim that it will happen alongside the Pixel 9 series launch, possibly in October 2024.
You will be the first in line to get the Android 15 update if you are using the latest Google Pixel device. OEMs will take a few moments to release their functional Android UX skins on top of the Android 15 platform.
Once Android 15 is released publicly, OEMs will run their beta programs for their skins, followed by stable releases. You can check if your phone has gotten the update through our Android 15 update tracker.
Android 15: New UI changes, features, and UX improvements
Android 15 appears identical to previous Android versions, however, there are some remarkable alterations that Google has introduced with this update. There are also functionality updates to many important features. All of these features have either been officially declared or have appeared in the released Android 15 build.
Partial screen sharing
With Android 15, users can be capable of sharing or recording just an app window in place of the entire device screen. This feature was enabled first in Android 14 QPR 2 on Pixel devices but will now be available across the wider Android platform.
Satellite connectivity support
Android 15 expands platform support for satellite connectivity. The platform now has UI elements that are required to “clarify a consistent user experience across the satellite connectivity landscape.” As part of these alterations, apps can use APIs that permit them to find when a device is connected to a satellite, which can give the app more awareness of why full network services are unavailable.
Android 15 also delivers support for SMS apps and preloaded RCS apps to use satellite connectivity for receiving and sending messages. This means that satellite connectivity will not be restricted to emergency uses only. Leaks had showcased that a deeper T-Mobile tie-in would be in place for satellite connectivity features, however, Google has not yet unveiled such details.
Notification cooldown
There’s a new function that can be originated within the Notifications section. This function is called “Notification cooldown,” and it lowers the volume of successive notifications that come from the same app. It’s made to stop users from being engulfed by too many notifications.
New in-app camera controls
Android 15 is adding new extensions for more control over the camera hardware on supported devices. New features added through these extensions bring low light enhancements that seem to provide developers control to increase the brightness of the camera preview and advanced flash strength adjustments that enable precise control of flash intensity when capturing images.
Universal toggle for keyboard vibration control
Android 15 Developer Preview 1 added a new “keyboard vibration” toggle that permits you to universally disable keyboard vibration. When turned off, the system setting will set aside the setting within individual keyboard apps. When turned on, you can control the setting within individual keyboard apps, too.
Sensitive Notifications
Some forms of two-factor authentication (2FA) are safer than others, but many platforms solely depend on the most basic form of 2FA that sends one-time passwords (OTP) through text or email. Additionally, Android 15 will fix that by incorporating sensitive notifications feature that hinders your OTPs from being read by malicious Android apps.
Android 15 performance improvements
Improvements to the Android Dynamic Performance Framework
Android 15 keeps working in the Android Dynamic Performance Framework (ADPF). ADPF is a set of APIs that allow games and performance-intensive apps to interact more directly with the power and thermal systems of Android devices. With these APIs, you can analyze system behavior better and then go a step ahead to optimize performance to a sustainable level that doesn’t overheat devices.
ADPF consists of these main features:
- Thermal-state monitoring
- CPU performance hints
- Fixed-performance mode
On supported devices, Android 15 will add new ADPF capabilities, namely:
- A power efficiency mode for hint sessions to indicate that their associated threads should prefer power saving over performance. This is claimed to be good for long-running background workloads.
- Hint sessions can now report CPU and GPU work durations, permitting the system to adjust CPU and GPU frequencies together to best meet workload demands.
- New thermal headroom thresholds to explain feasible thermal throttling status based on headroom prediction.
App and game developers can use these APIs to make their apps and games perform better on devices that would support these APIs.
App archiving through Settings
iOS has a useful and striking feature that permits you to “offload apps” to claim back some storage space. You can uninstall apps you use infrequently but keep the user data around. So, when you reinstall the app, you can get back where you had left off.
With Android 15 Developer Preview 2, Google has baked in a similar app archiving feature. The feature was declared back in 2022, but could finally see integration within the platform.
When an app is archived on Android, most of its working files will be removed, while a stripped-down version of the app will be preserved and hung on. There will be a home screen icon which, when clicked, will activate the Google Play Store to unarchive the app.
Google already permits you to opt into auto-archiving through the Google Play Store. Since the feature is run through the Play Store, you cannot archive or unarchive apps through the Settings app of your phone.
Android 15 changes this behavior by adding a new Archive and Restore button on the App Info page.
Android 15 will not only permit you to manually archive apps but also let you select whether to have the OS automatically archive apps that you do not use often. Besides, other app stores beyond the Google Play Store will also be able to obtain the feature if they support the necessary app formats.
Locking WebView into memory
Android 15 Developer Preview 1 is locking into memory the trichrome library that Android System WebView uses. Many apps use Android System WebView to display internet content, as it assists them to avoid building a web browser from scratch for instance a task. Since the process is locked into memory, the Android system will decategorize killing the process during regular RAM management operations.
In theory, apps that depend on WebView could see a marginal improvement in their performance to the extent of their use of WebView, particularly on devices with less RAM where processes are more frequently removed from RAM.
Smaller changes
- Android 15 has new APIs that permit apps to track their app startup and stop state, display their detailed app size information, and more.
- There is a new “disable default frame rate for games” setting in Developer Options that disables limiting the maximum frame rate for games at 60Hz.
Android 15 privacy and security features
Privacy Sandbox on Android
One of the highlights of the Android 15 update is that it incorporates the latest version of the Privacy Sandbox on Android.
Privacy Sandbox on Android is a multi-year initiative from Google that introduces more private advertising solutions that restrict the sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers. The goal here is to devise an effective and privacy-enhancing advertising solution where user information is secured. This is required to produce a healthy app ecosystem, which is required for the all-inclusive health of the Android platform.
File integrity
Android 15 launches a new File Integrity Manager API that executes a feature named “fs-verity” in the Linux kernel. With fs-verity, files can be secured by custom cryptographic signatures, warranting that they do not get infringed upon or corrupted. So app developers can rest easy perceiving that their app functionality and data are not compromised and imperiled in any way.
Screen record detection
Android 15 will allow apps to find when they are being screen-recorded. For apps that perform sensitive operations, developers can implore APIs to permit the content to be hidden within such screen recordings.
Read more: How to print from your iPhone or iPad and Android Phone?
Android 15: Leaked and upcoming features
In top of all the features that Google has officially declared, and those that have been spotted in the Android 15 Developer Preview 1 build, there are plenty of alterations that have been leaked and are alleged to come on Android 15.
Satellite Messaging with T-Mobile
There are clues in the Android 14 QPR3 Beta 2 release that showcase that Google is performing on bringing satellite connectivity to Android smartphones, in conjunction with T-Mobile. The presence of this code in the Android 14 QPR3 Beta 2 release highlights that the feature could see a rollout to the stable branch with the release of Android 15.
The satellite messaging provider is not clear from the screenshot instantly, but the buttons present on the screen lead to a T-Mobile satellite coverage page, which seems to suggest that T-Mobile could be a satellite messaging provider for Android. Sequentially, T-Mobile is complying with SpaceX for satellite-to-phone connectivity.
As we can glance over from the strings and the surfaced screenshot, when you incorporate satellite messaging into your T-Mobile plan, you will be capable of sending and receiving text messages to any account (and not just emergency services) when you are in an area with no cell service. You will be required of a clear view of the sky, and the connection could be influenced by weather and other structures. When you are in the range of a mobile network again, your phone will disconnect from the satellite and reconnect to cellular services again.
Google has declared satellite connectivity for the Android platform but has not yet revealed details about this T-Mobile-centric partnership. You can force referring to the above screen by invoking the android. Settings. SATELLITE_SETTING Intent action in Android 15 Developer Preview 2.
Revamped status bar with new icons and haptics
Google could refresh Android’s status bar icons with a new look and incorporate haptic feedback to the Quick Settings and volume panels. The alterations are not live yet, but we anticipate them to go live in Android 15 Beta 1 or 2.
With Android 15, some of the status bar icons may feature a segmented design. The battery icon may also eventually support showing the current battery level inside the icon instead of the right of it.
Android 15 may also include haptic feedback to the Quick Settings panel, for instance when users long-press on the Bluetooth tile. There will also be some haptic feedback when scrolling the volume slider to adjust the volume stream.
Lock screen widgets
Android supported lock-screen widgets with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, but the feature was killed off in Android 5.0 Lollipop. Since iOS brought lock screen widgets with iOS 16, Android could bring widgets back to the lock screen with Android 15.
There are some approaches Google could take to escort widgets back to the lock screen with Android 15. Keep in mind that it is feasible that Google could reserve lock screen widgets for various devices, mentioning hub mode devices like the Pixel Tablet.
New collapsible volume panel
The latest build feature of Android 15 has a new volume panel design. It features much thicker, pill-shaped sliders. A dot is added at the end where the slider’s maximum value is, and the icons are also tappable to mute that stream quickly.
The new volume panel of Android 15 is also collapsible. Clicking the button next to the media volume slider expands or collapses the panel. Anytime there’s active media playback, the volume panel is collapsed by default. Or else, it opens in its fully expanded state.
Besides the new design, the volume panel will also feature additional controls, especially for spatial audio and “noise control.”
Powered Off Finding API will let you find devices even when they are switched off
Android 15 will incorporate the new Powered Off Finding API that would enable powered-off finding across compatible Android devices, as per a report. These APIs would be accommodated within the Project Mainline module called “Tethering,” which can only be executed on devices that are running Android 15. Additionally, this API will be availed by the upgraded Find My Device network, which will be rolled out via the Google Play Services.
What Powered Off Finding API does is that it permits a device to fire off precomputed Bluetooth beacons, even when the device is off (assuming there is some reserve power available for this action). With these Bluetooth beacons, nearby Android devices will be capable of helping track the switched-off device, similar to how iPhones can be tracked when powered off.
This feature would require hardware support to allow the Bluetooth controller to work when the rest of the device is powered off. The feature is also in need of the phone to support the Bluetooth Finder HAL so that Android can enable Powered Off Finding mode.
The feature is anticipated to debut with the Google Pixel 9, but it could also make its way to the Pixel 8 series as the devices add the necessary hardware.
Voice activation feature for digital assistants
Android permits any app to become the default assistant app on your device, but it doesn’t permit them use wake words like “Hey Google” in the background. Your phone would have to continuously listen to audio through the microphone to pick up the designated wake word.
Android 15 could introduce a new feature named “voice activation” that could use a privacy-preserving “adaptive sensing” technology to let other digital assistant apps use wake words.
Previous versions of Android allowed wake word detection; however, Google removed the feature with Android 12. This latest feature could bring back the functionality, permitting apps like ChatGPT and Amazon Alexa to become accessible with a wake word, even when the screen of your phone is off. Pre-Android 15, only Google Assistant and Bixby on Samsung phones permit hands-free voice activation via a wake word.
Private Space
Private Space is coming in the list of an upcoming feature, probably coming with Android 15, that would let you hide apps and data on your phone. The feature could work identically to how Samsung’s Secure Folder works on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. With Private Space, you wouldn’t require additional third-party apps to hide other apps on your Android phone.
Indebted to some digging, we have more information on Android 15’s Private Space. When the feature goes live, it will be accessible at Settings > Security & privacy > Private Space. Google will also seem to suggest that users create a new Google account dedicated to Private Space, as a shared account could leak data outside of the private space.
Users will be able to automatically lock their private space, change the screen lock, automatically hide private space from appearing in the app list, make sensitive notifications appear on the lock screen when private space is unlocked, or delete the private space. You will also be able to quickly install an app in your private space through the Pixel Launcher by tapping on a button in your primary profile.
Android permits you to run apps in split-screen mode, however, you have to choose the apps every time you launch them. Android 15 could permit you to save split-screen app combinations as an App Pair, so you can relaunch a pair of apps into split-screen mode quickly.
When you save an app pair, an icon is incorporated into the home screen that showcases the two apps in a saved pair configuration. Clicking on this icon will launch this app pair configuration.
Desktop mode: Enhanced windowing capabilities
With Android 15, Google is making improvements in the windowing capabilities of Android’s desktop mode. In desktop mode, app windows will obtain a small handle that will show a small menu. This menu would have the app’s name and icon, as well as three buttons to open the window in
- Full-screen
- Split-screen
- Freeform mode
In freeform mode, the app will receive a title bar that shows the app’s name and icon, a dropdown to open the menu to change the windowing mode, a maximize button, and a close button. The window can be freely moved around and resized. Resizing the window momentarily hides the app’s content to make it comfortable to see the window as it’s being resized. Windows can be dragged to the left or right edge to snap them to that half. Once an app is full-screened, you can drag instead of clicking the handle at the top to turn the window into a freeform or split-screen one quickly.
Edge-to-edge apps by default
Android permits apps to use the entire height and width of the display to showcase their content, but many apps do not take advantage of this. Android 15 could force apps to go edge-to-edge by default, though there is a higher probability that Google will provide app developers some more time to adjust their apps.
Easy pre-set mode to improve readability and ease of navigation
Strings within past Android builds indicate that Google has been working on a feature called “easy pre-set mode,” which could arrive with Android 15’s later releases.
Easy pre-set mode could optimize the Android experience for improved readability and ease of navigation. It would do so by expanding icons and text, adding contrast and boldness, and incorporating navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen. It would also set the current wallpaper to a black color, so you can have an easier time figuring out your icons and icon labels. A feature like this would be very user-friendly for elderly or less tech-savvy users as it would make it comfortable to use the phone.
New contrast settings
Android 15 has a new “color contrast” settings page that is hidden by default. When manually activated, this page permits the user to adjust the contrast of text, buttons, and icons to make them prominent more in apps.
Headphone loud sound alerts
This feature was deliberated to come on Android 14 but arrived with Android 14 QPR 1 (h/t Mishaal Rahman) on Pixel devices. As such, the changes it launches are anticipated to be available for the wider Android platform with the Android 15 release.
This new feature monitors sound doses over time to save users from the damaging effects of excessive or prolonged sound exposure. It acts by regulatory requirements in the EU and is also different from the safe media volume limit feature (which focuses on a fixed volume). The new feature notifies when the music is playing extra loudly (volume measured through the audio signal) for a while.
Adaptive timeout for screen timeout
We’ve spotted code within Android 15 that indicates that Google is also working on an adaptive timeout feature for the upcoming Android release. This feature will automatically turn off your phone’s screen early if you are not using your device. With adaptive timeout, you may be capable of setting an extended screen timeout and still enjoy the security and battery benefits of a shorter timeout when you are not using your phone.
It is not instantly clear how the feature will be executed. There’s a probability that this feature doesn’t make it to AOSP but gets reserved for Pixel UI.
Bluetooth auto-on
Google is taking action to upgrade Android’s Find My Device network to grip the wide network of Android devices. This upgrade will depend on Bluetooth beacons from participating devices, which will be executed to locate other nearby devices. However, if participating devices have their Bluetooth switched off, the network will lose potency and effectiveness.
With Android 15, Google is building a “Bluetooth auto-on” toggle. When selected, this will pause the Bluetooth radio for a momentarily time and switch it back on the next day instead of disabling it until the next time the user toggles it. Only system apps will be capable of toggling your phone’s Bluetooth radio without your knowledge. There may be other limitations in place that could stop this feature from being available on all devices.
On iPhones, toggling Bluetooth or Wi-Fi from the Control Centre (aka the quick settings panel) entirely disconnects accessories until the next day. It does not disable the radios, and both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi continue to remain accessible for Apple ecosystem features. To disable the radios, you have to toggle Bluetooth and Wi-Fi from the Settings app. So Google could have been partially motivated from here.
