Google ’s next major update for smartphones is here . Android 15 rolled out to Pixel twist on October 15and will trickle down to infinite other devices over the next several month . Android 15 has eschewed visual update and instead tidies up the user interface and improves survive lineament . It also gets a number of under - the - lens hood improvements that you may play with occasionally .
Android 15 packs a host of seclusion - centric features , including the excellent fresh Private Space . Android 15 also work a big boost to orbiter communications , hold out the functionality beyond the Pixel batting order . allow ’s dive into more detail about the handiness and Modern features amount to your earphone with Android 15 .
Android 15 release date
As a cheeky trick , Google put out Android 15 on October 15 for stomach Pixel phone and the Pixel Tablet . All Pixel headphone from the Pixel 6 lineup and new are eligible for the update . Since Pixels make up for a small chunk of the Android infinite , a large pct of devices still await their several Android update .
As with each class , manufacturers have been conform their custom skins to Android 15 , adding their own impost visuals and feature on top . Besides Google , brands such as OnePlus , Oppo , Realme , and Samsung have already previewed their newfangled Android 15 - base interfaces . Meanwhile , some other brands such as Motorola , Nothing , Vivo , and Honor have initiated undefendable beta programs for some of their machine where anyone can try the coming updates . Xiaomi is the sole big brand that has yet to make any proclamation about its Android 15 update .
Phones that can download Android 15
Of the phones that can already download the Android 15 update , Google ’s Pixel phones top the lean . The Android 15 update is already available for the following Google devices :
In addition , a small set of phones , include theNothing Phone 2a , Vivo X100 , and theVivo X Fold 3 Prohave already received undefendable beta updates based on Android 15 . Motorola is also rolling out the beta update forMotorola Edge 2024 , but only in sure regions where the phone is known as Edge 50 Fusion .
Meanwhile , OnePlus has announced OxygenOS 15 , its usage port based on Android 15 . Samsung , which is usually among the fastest to hop the bandwagon , hasdelayed the One UI 7.0 update until January , so we have a bun in the oven it to concur with the Galaxy S25 serial publication launching .
We shall have more details about other devices in the follow weeks . In the meantime , if you wish to see if your phone qualifies for Android 15 , we have a comprehensivelist of all the phones that will get Android 15 .
Private Space is one of the biggest new features
With Android 15 , Google offer a raw way to hide away certain apps and files in a secure vault . Google advertises this as a feature to keep your work and function apps and files separate ; it ’s like running a sound within a telephone set — something thatpreviously necessitate specialized apps . Private Space can be an ideal space to tuck by your social media , banking , or dating apps .
Before you may usePrivate Space , you have to spark off and then set it up on your Pixel phone fromSettings > security measures and privacy > secret blank . Google recommends you expend a disjoined email with Private Space . That ’s because apps in the vault will exist in a sandboxed environment and ca n’t interact with the remainder of the phone . It is also a good way to secure apps if you are nervous about certain apps stealing your datum or abusing Android ’s security permissions to access your file .
With Private Space , you’re able to either employ your earphone ’s existing biometry or set up young ones ( including a consecrate fingermark ) . This will also be beneficial if you divvy up the machine with other people .
After it is localize up , Private Space is accessible from the bottom of the app drawer in the Pixel Launcher , where you’re able to add apps or privately access files . At the bit , Private Space is exclusive to Pixel earphone and may not inevitably be available on other phones , since some Android manufacturing business already offer some similar solutions . For instance , Samsung has a Secure Folder in One UI . Whether other producer adopt the functionality is likely to become exculpated in the make out month .
Predictive Back updates the navigation experience
Android 15 also bring Predictive Back , a feature that countenance you get a prevue of the screen that will debase up when swipe from one edge for the back motion . This is standardized to the back gesture on iOS , and finger like reveal the add-in behind the top one in a deck . The estimate is to let users know the previous blind without fill in the back gesture so they can invalidate it if needed . Google say it “ lets the substance abuser decide whether to continue — in other word , to ‘ devote ’ to the back gesture — or stay in the current view . ”
unluckily , Google ’s implementation in its current flesh feels primitive ( especially compared to iOS ) and only displays a small portion of the previous screen . Another disadvantage is that it currently only work in a very small set of apps — we could only pick out them in the preferences app and the app draftsman .
We would expect other apps to adopt the functionality but unlike Apple , Google gives developer free rein on which have to implement . So , similar to Material You and adaptative theming , developers may choose to overlook Predictive Back .
Make sure to check out Partial Screen Recording
Partial Screen Recording on Android 15 lets you screen phonograph recording contents on your screen selectively . While starting a screen door transcription , you will be prompt to choose whether you want to record a specific app or the total screen . If you take the first option , the filmdom recording will only admit part from the choose app and black out the subdivision where you were n’t using the app .
This will prevent you from inadvertently leak any private info through the screen recordings .
at the same time , there ’s another hidden lineament that lets you bypass restrictions when specific apps , such as your banking app , foreclose taking screenshots . you could put off around these restriction by heading over toSettings > System > Developer pick > Disable screen share protection . If you have n’t used Developer options before , you may require to enable them from the phone’sSettings > About telephone set , scrolling all the way to the bottom , and then tappingBuild numberseven times in quick successions .
Introducing Satellite Connectivity
With the Pixel 9 series that Google announced in the first place this class , the company confirmed planet connectivity as one of the features . Similar to satellite SOS services on relatively new iPhone and the Apple Watch model , thePixel 9 ’s satellite connectivitylets you call pinch services or apprize top middleman in case you are ever maroon with no Wi - Fi or cellular servicing .
Google takes this a step further with Android 15 , allowing all phones — besides the Pixel 9 series — to communicate directly with an extraterrestrial satellite . In addition to adjoin first responder or alarm choose middleman , the feature article also lease you send messages to just about any earphone numeral .
Googleelaboratesthat any earpiece with the “ right hardware ” will be able to communicate via satellite when necessary . It should purportedly mean phones with modems that support satellite communications , though it ’s a trivial hard to corroborate without proper confirmation from Google .
Google says the feature will depend on carriers , and could possibly happen through special messaging apps that these telcos designate . Though privateness , encoding , and interoperability on these apps are part of a different ball secret plan all told , we know the functionality will likely not be free of cost . get foresightful conversations at the expense of stilted ethereal bodies will not be economical , so there might be limitations , but these item elude us for now .
Notably , T - Mobile is the only attack aircraft carrier to have aerate orbiter connectivity . It recently enabled satellite - based texting in partnership with SpaceX , for all of its substance abuser in areas affect by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton . However , this functionality purportedly worked irrespective of the operating organisation .
Whether it’sT - Mobile ’s lead with the featureor Google promoting it in Android 15 , we can have a bun in the oven satellite communications to get the due attention it deserve .
App pairs are a helpful new tool
Android has supported multitasking in split - screen mode for palm - sized Android equipment since Android 7.0 Nougat that was launch in 2016 . Over the years , split - CRT screen functionality has become pretty useful because of great - than - ever display and hardware that can really handle the work load with two apps lead simultaneously .
With app pairs on Android 15 , you could save sets of two apps that can be launched together in a rip - filmdom thought . App pairs can be saved on the home CRT screen , and you could establish pairs immediately by tapping the icon . Some Android pad already endure the feature , but it ’s now head to regular - sized phones .
To save an app pair , you first want to :
These app pairs will come along on the dwelling house screen , where you’re able to tap the image to set up the two apps in split view over and over again . These app pairs would not save in the app draftsman , so you will need to be wary while purging excess icon from the home screen .
Notification Cooldown and Adaptive Vibration
With Android 15 , Google plans to reduce the pressure that the barrage of notifications put upon us . For this , Google added a feature film aptly know as Notification Cooldown with an objective to prevent the bombardment of notice .
If you ever receive a string of notifications , the feature article will later on reduce the volume of alert so they become less annoying . uninterrupted pings and dings should no more cut off your flow of view while you ’re trying to bid up the perfect witty legend for a picture of your cats lark about around their multistoried house .
Notification Cooldown presently only make for if you keep the volume on for your ringtone and notification alerts . However , if you opt your phone steadily in unsounded musical mode , Android 15 also tot up Adaptive Vibrations , which decoct the volume of vibration when the earpiece is still ( i.e. , not being used actively ) and facing upward .
This should ideal keep you from getting distracted by a string of notifications , specially when the telephone set is set aside . Pixels also give you the option to put your speech sound facing downwardly to send it into Do Not Disturb musical mode .
Notably , Google has downsized the options with these feature film as compared to when they were initially launched with Android 15 developer preview . This could point the company is solve to improve them slightly more before being vocal about them .
HQ webcam mode to the rescue
When the globular pandemic hit , our webcams really found purpose again . For many of us who continue to forge from home , webcams are vital . But thepotato camerathat most of the cheap webcams have can impair the character of our virtual interactions .
As a solution , Apple publish Continuity Camera two years ago , allow the iPhone to be used as your webcam . Google followed suit last twelvemonth , and enabled your Android to be used as a wired ( not wirelessly , alas ! ) webcam with any Windows , macOS , Linux , or even ChromeOS political machine . With Android 15 , the quality is get a meaning encouragement as Google adds a new “ HQ ” — look up to high-pitched character — mode for the webcam .
The HQ style makes your images noticeably sharper without summate any latency to the video provender . you’re able to also habituate your Android phone for camera - dependent activities , such as cyclosis , without explicitly relying on expensive ironware .
The functionality was antecedently also facilitated on Android but through third - party apps . By adding this as a aboriginal feature , Google eliminates the need to pay to unlock high - calibre and near exigent camera feed sent to your PC .
USB Lockdown adds an extra security layer
Android ’s Lockdown feature film bestow an supererogatory layer of security department to your earphone by incapacitate biometrics . So , in casing one of your friends or family members tries to use your earpiece without your permission , they can not unlock it by just holding it up against your human face or fooling you into contract your finger on the fingermark scanner . Even if you have n’t paid attention to lockdown , it has been around since Android 9 .
With Android 15 , Google start a pace further and locks access to file repositing while the phone is in lockdown mode . That essentially stand for that anyone who tries to access your files by connecting the earpiece to a estimator without your permit , they wo n’t have luck . More significantly , the feature of speech prevents “ succus jacking , ” or the technique where public charger are loaded with rogue cables that can be used to covertly steal your data .
unluckily , it does n’t still marry into the new anti - theft feature film that Google latterly announced for all devices bunk Android 10 and above . Anti - theft forces your telephone set to put away when it detects a sudden jerk ( similar to the ill scenario of your phone being yank out of your hand ) , but does n’t amply actuate lockdown mode .
Manual app archiving is another welcome touch
idle apps can take up place on your phone for no grounds , which is why last year Google — presumably , with inspiration from iOS — added a feature that would automatically archive apps that you do n’t habituate when the phone ’s storage is flow low . While it deletes the app bundle , all your data stay intact so you could download the app again and can pick up from where you forget .
Android 15 augment the characteristic , now allowing you to manually archive apps they do n’t use but are n’t quick to edit just yet . A new Archive button is now present on the info page for particular apps . That ’s another way Android enhance the bar for iOS .
