While we’re still a few months away from the official release of Android 15, most of the new features and changes have already been revealed thanks to developer previews and beta builds. I’ve gone through all the features discovered so far in Android 15 and can tell you that it’s going to be an exciting OS upgrade.
what is Android 15?
Android 15, Google’s upcoming mobile operating system, is expected to come with a tonne of enhancements and new features. Google claims improved performance, enhanced privacy and security, and more productivity. Upgrades are also available for larger-screen and foldable smartphones. The official release of Android 15 is still a few months away, and it is currently only accessible as a beta for a few select devices. These are our current top new features, although we’re still giving it a try.
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Android 12 was the last OS upgrade which brought a completely new design language and a ton of new features. While the recent ones, Android 13 and Android 14, have not been very impressive. They didn’t introduce any groundbreaking features or any UI changes; Felt like a minor upgrade.
But Android 15 is coming with many exciting features that will make you wait for it eagerly. While you wait for the official release, check out the 10 best features Android 15 has to offer.
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Android 15 Name
With Android 10, Google formally abandoned the dessert naming scheme, while codenames are still used within. This year’s Android release is Vanilla Ice Cream, whereas Android 14 was Upside Down Cake.
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Android 15 Release Date
The Android 15 Preview program is open from February 2024 until the end of the year, when OEMs and AOSP will receive the final public version of the software. company provide upgrades for your development and testing environments at significant development checkpoints. SDK tools, system images, emulators, API references, and API diffs are all included with every release. To find out more about what you should concentrate on at each milestone, look at the following table.
Android 15 Top Features
Satellite connectivity support
Ever since Apple announced satellite connectivity support for iPhones, Android users have been eagerly waiting to try it out. Google has finally listened to them as it has been confirmed to bring this new feature in Android 15.
With satellite connectivity support, you will be able to send messages to your friend even if there is no cell tower nearby. Android 15 also allows SMS apps and preloaded RCS apps to use satellite connectivity support to send and receive messages.
This means that satellite connectivity will not be limited to emergency use only. This could be a major blow to Apple, which restricts satellite connectivity support on iPhones to emergency use only.
The Android 15 Developer Preview 2 build supports satellite connectivity at the operating system level. However, we are not sure whether the final release will have this feature at the OS level or not. If this happens, all Android 15 phones will have satellite connectivity support, even budget phones.
Find your phone, even if it’s offline
Google’s Find My Device feature is getting a major upgrade in Android 15. According to Android Police’s findings, all Android 15 phones can ping each other via Bluetooth and contribute to the network, helping other Android users find their lost devices.
Find My relies on network broadcasts to Android devices, which are essentially Bluetooth signals. A nearby Android device part of the Find My Device network can pick up the Bluetooth signal from the broadcasting device and upload encrypted location details to Google’s servers. Only the broadcast device owner and people with access to the encryption key can decrypt the location.
This means that billions of Android devices will ping each other via Bluetooth as soon as they join the Find My Device network, and can help others find their lost Android devices. If all goes well, Android will have a much larger lost device tracking network than Apple’s Find My network.
Google is also reportedly working on a “Powered Off Finding” feature that will allow users to find their Android device even when it’s powered off. Sadly, this feature cannot be enabled on any Android devices running Android 15 or later as it requires hardware support to power on the Bluetooth controller when the device is turned off.
Pixel 8 models will reportedly support Powered by Finding after upgrading to Android 15. Sadly, this feature won’t be coming to older Pixel devices, including the Pixel 7 series and Pixel Fold.
Google has not confirmed the Powered by Finding feature, but it is likely to be announced at the launch of the Pixel 9 series in October this year.
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Battery health
Android 15 may allow users to view the battery status of their device. The feature was first seen in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2, but was not fully supported, and so never made it into any Google Pixel devices. It seems that Android 15 will make battery health information accessible to users.
The battery degrades over time as its ability to hold a charge decreases over time. The Battery Health feature tells the percentage of original battery capacity remaining, and is therefore a useful metric that helps users replace the battery at the right time.
The battery health feature has been present in Apple iPhones for years, and now, it’s coming to Android devices with Android 15.
App storage
App Archive is a useful feature that lets you save some storage by uninstalling unused apps while keeping user data. So, the next time you reinstall the app, you can come back to where you left off. Apple iPhones already have this feature in the form of “Offload Apps”.
Google already has an app collection feature through the Google Play Store. The drawback here is that you can’t store apps installed outside the Google Play Store. Android 15 supports app archives at the OS level, thus allowing users to archive any installed app from the app information page.
Google already has an app collection feature through the Google Play Store. The drawback here is that you can’t store apps installed outside the Google Play Store. Android 15 supports app archives at the OS level, thus allowing users to archive any installed app from the app information page.
Android 15 also has an option to automatically archive apps you don’t use often. When you archive an app, the app icon turns gray(ish) and shows a download icon, tapping on which redirects you to the Google Play Store to download the app. You can also unarchive an app by tapping Restore on the app information page.
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notification cooldown
Another useful feature coming to the new Android OS is “Notification Cooldown”. This reduces the amount of consecutive notifications coming from the same app. This feature protects users from getting disturbed by too many notifications.
Notification cooldown was spotted in the first developer preview build of Android 15 but was previously hidden in the beta. Presumably, Google is taking more time to prepare this feature before releasing it to the public.
The folks at Android Authority have also spotted a new toggle called “Vibrate when unlocking” in the new build of Android 15. Enabling this will prevent your locked phone from vibrating when you receive continuous notifications from the same app. The device will vibrate continuously for notifications only when it is unlocked.
High quality webcam mode
There are many third-party apps for using your smartphone as a webcam for your PC. But what’s better than having it seamlessly integrated into the system? Well, Google introduced this feature in the Android 14 QPR 1 release for Pixel smartphones, but the output was below average.
Android 15 introduces a new high quality webcam mode that results in significantly improved video quality. There is a new “HQ” symbol in the webcam preview that enables this new webcam mode. It disables power optimization on the device to provide better video quality. Therefore, battery consumption increases if used for a long time.
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partial screen sharing
Partial screen sharing is another useful and privacy-focused addition to Android 15 that allows users to share and record a single app instead of the entire screen. So, you can stay calm even if you accidentally open an app you didn’t want to while screen sharing.
The feature was first introduced in Android 14 QPR 2 on Pixel devices, but will now be available for all Android 15 devices. The new OS may offer additional privacy features like private space and sensitive information, which I’ll cover later in this post.
Edge-to-edge apps by default
Android smartphones can display more content than ever before, thanks to thinner bezels and larger screen sizes. However, many apps do not use the full height and width to display their content. Android 15 addresses this by forcing all apps to go edge-to-edge by default, which improves the user experience.
private space
Android 15 may introduce Private Space to secure your important apps and files. As the name suggests, it creates a private space where you can add apps and data, and use a different password or PIN for better security. Samsung phones already have a similar feature with a different name “Secure Folder”.
Users will be able to hide Private Space from the apps list, change the lock screen, install apps in Private Space, and delete Private Space.
As I write this post, Google still hasn’t announced the private share. However, we believe the upcoming Android 15 beta build will include the feature.
sensitive information
OTP fraud is increasing rapidly. A major reason for this is malicious third-party apps having access to the messages. They can read all your messages, including those containing OTP, and use them for all kinds of negative purposes. Android 15 aims to fix this by introducing “Sensitive Notifications” that prevent malicious apps from reading your OTP.
These are the 10 best features discovered in Android 15 so far. Google may add more features to the new OS until the platform reaches the stability stage. Although Android 15 doesn’t have an official release date yet, it’s expected to arrive sometime in October.
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