Android 15 developer preview just launched — here’s all the new features
Android 15 is here at last — kind of. Google has just confirmed that the first developer preview for Android 15 is available now, and while this means you can install the software preview on your phone, it also means Google is taking the first steps toward delivering a full version of Android 15 later this year.
So what sort of things can we expect from Android 15 when it does arrive? Android 15 is still in the early stages of development, so things can and likely will change over the next several months. But Google has revealed a brand new space-themed logo for Android 15 along with its initial priorities for the next iteration of its mobile OS.
One of the key focuses in the developer preview is a continual pledge to improve user privacy and security — aided by a brand new version of Privacy Sandbox on Android. The idea behind Privacy Sandbox is to create new technologies that improve user privacy, while still offering personalized ads inside Android apps. Google is all about the ad-revenue, after all.
Android 15 will be able to support partial screen sharing as well, allowing users to share or record a specific app window — rather than the whole display. It’s the kind of feature we already see in the best video call apps on desktop.
There’s also a pledge that Google will support creators in Android 15, and ensure they can make better use of a phone’s premium hardware. That's something we can all get behind, especially if you just dropped several hundred dollars on one of the best Android phones. We don’t know a lot of specific details yet, but this pledge will include offering access to new in-app camera controls — specifically low-light enhancements and more advanced adjustment of flash intensity.
Other improvements confirmed to be part of the Android 15 developer preview include updates to Health Connect and the ability to manage and share health and fitness data that’s been collected in apps. New APIs also promise to improve file integrity, enhancing file protection from malware and other unauthorized modification, while Android 15 will add support for virtual MIDI devices for the very first time.
Developers will likewise be able to take advantage of a new power-efficiency mode, GPU and CPU work duration reports and Thermal headroom thresholds. Google says this will allow games and other performance-heavy apps to interact more closely with Android’s power and thermal systems — which sounds like developers will have more options to better optimize their software for improved performance.
When will Android 15 arrive?
Now the important stuff — Google’s initial timeline of Android 15 development. Developer previews are set to take place until mid-March, closely followed by the first betas — giving regular users their first taste of Android 15. The beta phase should continue until the full release of the software later this year, which should be around the end of summer, according to Google's posted timeline.
Platform Stability for Android 15 is scheduled to commence in June and should last until Android 15 is released to the general public. However you should expect some of these dates to change, as we saw last year when Google forwent the usual late-summer launch in favor of releasing Android 14 in October, much closer to the launch of the Pixel 8 series.
So from the looks of things Android 15 will focus on privacy, security and boosting overall efficiency, which are all very useful upgrades to get. However there’s bound to be a heck of a lot more coming as well, but we won’t be hearing about that until Google I/O in May. So we’ll have to sit tight and be patient until then.
