Overview of Android 15 Features

Android 15, also codenamed Vanilla Ice Cream, is almost ready to go, and in this video I'll go over every feature found within this update, both big or small, and talk about any possible upcoming ones based on rumors and leaks found underneath the hood. Now currently, Android 15 is in its second beta version, with the next couple of releases expected to focus mainly on stability updates. This gives us a good idea of what the final release will look like. However, nothing is certain until the final version is out. so some features might be removed or new ones added in. Still, here's a list of every device that can currently install the Android 15 beta update. Just keep in mind that if you do update to it, there's a high possibility that you may encounter bugs and broken features, so just be aware. The first major change is the Android logo, which is now a triangular shape with a small spaceship in the middle. You can see it in several places throughout the OS, with the best spot being the Easter egg in the About Phone section. It still has a space theme and if you long press the logo, the stars in the background start to stretch and move faster, making it seem like you're entering light speed. After a few seconds, the same spaceship game from Android 14 will load up. Another change is the ability to save app pairs when using split screen mode. Simply open the Recents page, tap the icons, and select Save App Pair. Then a new icon will appear on your home screen, allowing you to relaunch the paired apps anytime. A much bigger change is that the volume panel has received a completely new design. It features much thicker pill-shaped sliders and lets you access extra features a lot more quickly. Things like the audio picker to let you switch between connected devices, toggling the live caption, and you can even collapse the menu. To be honest, I would have preferred if the volume bar just expanded even further instead of bringing a whole new menu in, but this is still somewhat of an improvement, at least in terms of appearance. One of my favorite new features is private space. It's similar to Samsung's secure folder, where you can download new apps alongside your current ones, even if they're duplicates. Plus, you can also download and save new files that are also separated from your main storage space. These new apps and files will then be locked and stored away in a secret encrypted space that can only be accessed from within the bottom of your app drawer. And when you try to access it, You will of course need to type in your passcode or use your biometrics. The best part is that you can even use a different screen lock outside of your current one that you use to unlock your phone. It's super useful. I just wish Google would have hidden it a bit better because on the off chance that someone does scroll down to the bottom of your app drawer, it's pretty obvious that you've got a hidden space. If your phone is running out of storage space, Android 15 now lets you archive apps so that you can free up space while still keeping parts of the app. so that if you do decide to bring it back in the future, it reinstalls a lot faster and doesn't require you to set it up again. Archiving has technically already been available in the Play Store, however, it doesn't let you choose which apps to archive. It automatically archives the apps for you and just the ones that you rarely use. But now, in Android 15, you can jump into the app info page of any app and archive it yourself from there. Another exciting feature that I've been waiting for and is finally here is satellite messaging. I mean, if iPhones have had it for over a year, then why can't Androids? And as of now, some T-Mobile users have access to this awesome feature since T-Mobile teamed up with SpaceX to support it for existing LTE-capable phones. It's extremely useful since you'll be able to text anyone, including emergency services, even if you're in a remote area. Now we just have to wait for more carriers to jump on board too. This next one is interesting. On Android 15, if you turn off your Bluetooth, it will now automatically turn on again the very next day. You can still disable this by heading into the Settings, Connected Devices, Connection Preferences, Bluetooth, and turning off the second toggle. However, the reason why Google made this option is because they're enabling their new Find My Device network. This network will use billions of androids to help you locate your lost device and it only works if each android has bluetooth enabled because that's how the devices will be able to communicate with one another. If your bluetooth is turned off then you won't be able to contribute to the Find My Device network, and you won't be able to help others find their lost device. And since we're talking about Bluetooth, its tile within the Quick Settings now expands to let you quickly switch between paired devices. That way, you no longer need to jump into the settings. Definitely been waiting for that one for a long time too. Some of you probably didn't know this, but you can use your Android as a webcam by just connecting it to the computer and then changing the USB preference to webcam. And now in Android 15, there's a new button in the bottom left corner of the preview screen that lets you enable high quality mode. And honestly, it does make a huge difference. Just keep in mind that using it could increase the battery temperature, especially if you're doing video calls that are hours long. Unlike iOS, Androids for the longest have let you change most of your default apps. So you can change your phone app, browser, SMS, digital assistant, and more to any other third-party alternative. Now with Android 15, you get one more option. And that is to change your default wallet app to anything else that isn't Google Wallet. Pretty handy. The Pixel Launcher also got a few improvements, like within the widgets panel, you now get more recommendations in a swipeable format. Plus each page is categorized. And the last one shows you some widgets that you may like based on your usage patterns. To top it off, apps can now make those widget recommendations in the panel a bit more personal. So for example, if there's a contact widget, it will now show a picture of your favorite contact instead of a random person. It just makes it a bit more personal. Another nice addition is that when you tap on a widget, you'll now get an add button to have the widget instantly drop on the home screen instead of needing to long press and drag it, which you can still do by the way. Within the home settings, there's also a new menu called Apps List Settings, and inside of it there's currently just one option called Swipe Up to Start Search. It's nothing new, I mean... This setting used to be within the search settings menu. However, according to Michal, this page could eventually contain a new option that lets you enable two lines for apps with long names within the search results and app drawer, which is set to wait and see. And even though this also isn't live yet, within the reasons page, Google may also turn the apps icon into a pill, making it a lot more obvious that it's a drop-down menu with extra options. Looks pretty clean. Vibrations within the OS have also been vastly improved in various different ways. The biggest is that for Pixel users, there is now a new adaptive vibration feature which will let the phone automatically adjust the vibration based on your environment. So if you're in a really loud place, like a concert, the vibration will be a lot more violent. But if you're in a quieter place, like a library, then the vibration will be a lot more subtle. The way it knows is by using your phone's microphone and other sensors to determine the sound levels around you. Seems like a pretty good idea, but then again, I wonder how much battery life this will actually consume since it's constantly needing to use the microphone and various sensors on its own. your phone. Plus, I know some of you might be concerned about your privacy since the microphone will constantly be listening. Within the vibration and haptics menu of the settings, there is also a new option at the very bottom called keyboard vibration, which lets you disable the keyboard haptics of any keyboard app you're using. Plus, even if your keyboard app doesn't let you disable the touch vibrations, this OS setting will, which is nice. When changing the brightness or the volume level, you now also get some haptic feedback. It's super subtle, but still some nice additions. And finally, apps will be able to set different vibration styles for their incoming notifications. That way, you could theoretically know what type of notification you just received based on the vibration pattern without needing to look at the screen or have your volume on. If you only pick... pixel fold or a pixel tablet, you'll now have the option to long press the dock and have it always be shown when you're within any app. And you can still bring up circle to search by long pressing the app drawer icon. I still prefer the taskbar getting automatically hidden though so that I don't lose any screen real estate, but having that extra option is still nice. Just like how you can check your phone's battery health, Android 15 now lets you check the health of your storage chip. If you didn't know, every time you take a photo, download something, or launch a file, Android needs to read or write onto the phone's storage chip, and over time this can wear it down. Granted, it'll take years till you see any negative side effects, but eventually, a worn out storage chip could slightly degrade the phone's performance, or even fail to work in the future. But now you can see the storage's lifetime. As of now, it only works on the Google Pixels, and you will need to download an extra app to be able to see this hidden screen. So you must download Activity Launcher from the Play Store, scroll down until you see Device Diagnostics, then tap on Main Activity, launch the activity, then tap on Component Health, and then Storage Status. Plus, within the same Component Health page, you can take a look at your battery health too. And speaking of the Fold, you'll now have more control over what happens when you Fold or Unfold the device while using any apps. There's a new menu within the settings called Continue Using Apps Unfold and it's pretty self-explanatory. If you like all your apps to automatically transition between screens whenever you fold or unfold the device, you can set it to always. If you'd like to get a swipe up confirmation to continue to use the app on the other screen, you can set it to the second option. Or if you'd like your front display to stay locked whenever you fold your device, then you can set it to never. It just gives you more control because before, it would kind of be unpredictable which apps would automatically transition to the inner or outer screen without any lock screen verification first. Another change some of you may notice is that when you're within certain apps or system screens and you start to swipe to go back, you'll now see a sneak peek of the previous page. The reason for this is because of a feature called Predictive Back Gestures, which was first introduced in Android 14, but wasn't fully enabled then, but now in Android 15, it is. So if you've never enabled this feature within the developer options, you'll now be forced to use it. and you can't even disable it anymore because the option to toggle it on or off is gone. For the few of you who love to use desktop mode, Android 15 has also improved it. It's not officially live yet, and it's still nowhere near as good as Samsung DeX, but it's still an improvement. Mashal from Android Police has managed to get it working by enabling several hidden flags within the code, and in his screen recording, we can see several new changes and design tweaks. For example, when an app is full screened, there is now a bar that will appear at the top, and tapping it will bring up a new menu to let you quickly transform the window into different modes, including split screen or freeform. When a window is in freeform, it'll also now have an improved title bar similar to regular desktops where you can quickly close them, enlarge them, and even see the app's icon and the title. I even love that you can now drag the window to the edges of the screen to enlarge it halfway, and when you resize a window, the contents inside of it will get temporarily hidden. They're great new features, but again, the OS still has a long way to go before it can replace a full desktop operating system. And if you're using your phone or tablet as a desktop, then you most likely have a physical keyboard to go with it. Well, in Yandere 15, it's also gotten a few new updates. Firstly, within the settings, it'll now show you a preview of the keyboard layout that is currently selected. It can't come in handy when you're trying to use a keyboard that has a different physical layout than what you're used to. And for those with motor disabilities or if you struggle to type on a keyboard, there are also three new features within the accessibility section. There's sticky keys, which lets you press keyboard shortcuts one key at a time, instead of having to hold down multiple simultaneously. Slow keys adjust the time it takes for a key press to activate, it'll change it to 500 milliseconds, and bounce keys lets the keyboard ignore rapid repeated presses of the same key within 500 milliseconds. I've been an Android user for over a decade, and during that time I've tried countless of smartphone cases. It's always been a challenge to find one that strikes the perfect balance between protection and a sleek design. However, Taurus, the sponsor of this video, has always managed to pull this off And they're even the pioneers of circular stands for cases. I've worked with them plenty of times in the past and I keep coming back to their cases because I just love how clean and minimal they look, how useful they can be with their rotatable 360 degree ring, and how much protection they provide. Their newest 360 degree MagSafe stand cases take this even further. I've enjoyed using their O-Stand Spin Case because it lets me prop up my Galaxy S24 Ultra at four different angles. It's super useful for when I'm trying to take selfies or watching videos hands-free. And it's clear that Torres has put a lot of thought into the design. I also love that it has a built-in magnet which is so strong that I can easily attach the phone to any metal surface which adds a whole new level of convenience to my daily routine. It's little touches like this that make using their cases such a pleasure. They also have the Ostend R which has a fully rotatable 360 degree ring so I can stand my phone in any direction and it sits flush against the case, keeping it sleek and pocket friendly. Overall, I'm genuinely thrilled with Taurus's O-Stand cases. If you're looking for a case that combines elegance, protection, and innovative features, look no further. Check out Taurus's O-Stand cases through the top link in the description. You won't be disappointed. Anyways, those are most of the major changes that Google has released within Android 15 thus far, but there are also a ton of tinier improvements. that are also welcome. The first is that when you try to change your screen timeout within the settings, Android 15 will now force you to enter your passcode or your biometric unlocking method first. The same goes for when you connect your phone to your computer, and you try to switch the USB preference to any other option, like file transfer. Within the storage menu, the settings, the system option has now been expanded towards the bottom. So now you can see how much space the actual Android OS is taking up, and how much cache and other temporary files your system is using. When adding an extra user to your phone, you can now choose to use the same profile picture from your Google account, or any Google account that's on your phone, instead of using a random cartoon. HealthConnect now adds two more data types to sync across all health-related apps, including skin temperature and training plans. Android 15 could enhance video stabilization for third-party apps like Snapchat or Instagram. A new camera extension called Eyes-Free Videography allows these apps to lock and stabilize a specific region or object of interest. Even phones that don't end up getting this extension from the manufacturer can benefit thanks to a new setting called Allow Camera Software Extensions, which lets third-party camera apps to use this feature. Most of you have probably never thought about this, but when sending a text or making a phone call, you're probably assuming that your mobile network is safe to use and that there's probably no one snooping on the other end. And for the majority of the time, this may be the case. But there could be a rare chance that your phone gets tricked into connecting to a device that mimics a cell tower. It's known as a stingray attack. And you've probably seen it in a few movies where the cops or some hacking team tries to intercept a line to listen in on someone's phone calls. And in real life, cops use this too, by the way. Well, in Android 15, Google now has a few new mobile network security features to combat these attacks. The first option warns you when your device connects to an unencrypted network, or when a network is recording your device's unique ID or SIM ID. And the second option lets you connect to only encrypted networks. Just keep in mind that if you enable this, your mobile network may be limited in some locations because not every network out there is encrypted. And while we're talking about network security, Android 15 now lets you avoid connecting to any WEP Wi-Fi networks. They're basically older security protocols that were introduced in the 90s and are a lot less secure than Wi-Fi networks that use WPA. This one is mostly for developers, but within the developer options there is now a new setting called Show HDR slash SDR Ratio, and as the name clearly states, it shows you the ratio between HDR and SDR composition for any photos when they are full screened. And those are all the tinier changes found within Android 15. Now let's discuss some under the hood changes that also improve the OS. For this section though, I'll only discuss the major ones you probably care about because I'm pretty sure that unless you're a developer, you wouldn't want to hear about every new API change or ones that are added to the OS. The first big improvement is that according to Dave Burke, the VP of Engineering for the Android platform, Android 15 has managed to improve standby time by up to three hours. They did this by making a variety of optimizations, with the biggest one being that they sped up the time to enter Doze by 50%. Pretty awesome. So if you update to Android 15 on some devices, you could see much better battery life when your phone is idle. There are also plenty of new fraud and scam protection improvements that have been introduced in Android 15. The first is that when you're trying to sign into your account and you receive a text message with a one-time password, most apps on your phone won't be able to see this notification, protecting you from a malicious app that is trying to obtain that code. Plus, when you're screen sharing with others, incoming notifications, OTPs, and login details will now be hidden automatically. Google is also expanding the restricted settings so that apps will now need to obtain even more approval from users to enable certain permissions when they're sideloaded from the web. And Google Play Protect will now use on-device AI to better detect suspicious apps that are trying to access sensitive permissions or trying to interact with your apps or services on your phone. Another big change is that Android for Teen will allow third-party apps to obtain similar features that Google's Digital Wellbeing has. This includes letting apps change various screen options, similar to the Bedtime mode. For example, they can now let you enable the grayscale, dim the wallpaper, disable the always-on display, turn on the dark theme, and more within their app. So I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more productivity apps take advantage of this in the future. This next one could be a bummer for a few of you, In Android 15, you will no longer be able to install older apps that target Android 6.0 Marshmallow or lower. Before, on Android 14, the bar was at around Android 5.1 or lower. But I guess Google decided to raise it. So if you're planning on installing a really old app like Flappy Bird, you won't be able to do that anymore. Some apps may- even run a lot more smoothly within Android 15. And this is because Google is now supporting 16 kilobyte page sizes. Before it only supported 4 kilobyte memory page sizes, but now it's quadrupled the amount. So if an app has heavy pages filled with various animations, effects, videos, etc. They should now have a lot less trouble running without lagging. And those are all the changes found within Android 15 thus far. Now let's talk about features that could arrive in Android 15 in some future beta builds based on rumors and leaks. The first is that Android 15 could change the look of the status bar icons, specifically the Wi-Fi, mobile data, and even the battery. This is crazy because these icons haven't been updated since 2014 when Android 5.0 Lollipop was released. To be honest, not many people are fans of this new look, including myself. I think Google could do a lot better if these actually do arrive. This next one is pretty cool if it gets released. There will now be a new option within the accessibility settings that will let you force all the apps on your phone to become dark even if they don't support it. And sure, there's already a toggle within the developer options called Override Force Dark that essentially does the same thing, but this new option by Google claims to work even better since Google made some additional under the hood changes to make it affect even more apps. Crossing my fingers that this one makes it into the cut. Android 15 could also finally bring back lock screen widgets. However, according to Mashal from Android Authority, it could only work on Android tablets. So that's kind of a bummer. Still, it's a win for all Android tablet owners out there. And by the way, this video demo that Mashal screen captured is a very early look at how these lock screen widgets will look. As you can tell, it's still a work in progress, but you can get a sense of how it'll work in the future. On the bright side, even though our smartphones may not get full lock screen widget support, we could still get a smaller version of that. Something that's pretty similar to live activities on iOS, where you'll get a swipeable widget at the bottom with all of your currently running activities. Things like the timer, weather, upcoming events, and more. To be honest though, it just looks like they brought the at a glance widget to the bottom of the screen, but if we're able to customize it even further, and be able to choose which apps to be shown, then it could be a nice addition. Another rumor is that Android 15 could end up adding support for a new way to wirelessly charge your Android device, and that's with NFC. That's right, this new technology was launched in the middle of 2020, and it allows a single antenna in an NFC-enabled device to manage both charging and communications. What a time to be alive. And I guess Google could finally be supporting this on their OS. Another neat addition is that we may see a new screensaver that lets you control all of your smart home products. The page looks extremely similar to what we currently have when you tap on the home tile in the quick settings. I'm super pumped for this. We may also end up seeing a new option called Color Contrast within the Wallpaper and Style page. This page lets you adjust the contrast of the text, buttons, and icons to make them pop more. Audio sharing could end up being a thing on Android 15. This feature will let others listen to the same music that you're listening to. on their headphones. This is possible thanks to a newer Bluetooth LE audio standard that comes with a feature called Aurocast. And with this feature you're able to broadcast your audio to nearby devices. Within the screenshots that Michel provided, it even seems that you can just have your friend scan a QR code generated by the feature to be able to connect to your music. You just have to make sure that both pair of headphones support the Bluetooth LE audio standard. Android 15 may also come with a new adaptive timeout setting that automatically turns off your screen a bit earlier than what you set it to if it finds out that you're not using your device. Michel found this within Android 15's code and there's not much of an explanation of how the phone is able to know that you left it, but his guess is that it'll use your device's front-facing camera and some of the phone's sensors, which makes sense. To help improve security even further, Android 15 could also introduce a new page letting you quarantine apps. In this quarantine state, that app won't be able to show notifications, all of its windows will be hidden, activities will be stopped, it won't be able to ring the phone, and a lot more. It's basically just disabling the app without actually uninstalling it, similar to the app pausing feature found within the digital wellbeing service. This one is exciting if it actually ends up working. For games that don't support anything higher than 60 FPS, Android 15 could include a toggle within the developer options that disables limiting the default frame rate for games set to 60Hz. So it should essentially force a game to run a higher refresh rate, including 90, 120, or even 144Hz. The only downside is that even though Michal was able to try out this feature, he couldn't find a game to actually push it past 60Hz. I guess it only worked for a very small number of games so far. Anyways, those are every major feature found within Android 15 thus far. Obviously, it's not a huge update with a completely revamped interface like how Android 12 was, but it's still got a good amount of new features that improve the OS as a whole. I've been rocking it on my Pixel 8 Pro, and I've been loving it. Again, here's a list of devices that support it so far, so if you want to update to it, I'll leave a link right below the like button to join the Android 15 beta program. Also, tap this video to learn about some awesome Chrome flags that you can enable on your device to improve your browsing experience. Thanks so much for sticking to the end. To show that you're a true fan, drop a heart emoji in the comment section and I'll really appreciate it. Kapow!

so some features might be removed or new ones added in. Still, here's a list of every device that can currently install the Android 15 beta update. Just keep in mind that if you do update to it, there's a high possibility that you may encounter bugs and broken features, so just be aware.

The first major change is the Android logo, which is now a triangular shape with a small spaceship in the middle. You can see it in several places throughout the OS, with the best spot being the Easter egg in the About Phone section. It still has a space theme and if you long press the logo, the stars in the background start to stretch and move faster, making it seem like you're entering light speed. After a few seconds, the same spaceship game from Android 14 will load up.

Another change is the ability to save app pairs when using split screen mode. Simply open the Recents page, tap the icons, and select Save App Pair. Then a new icon will appear on your home screen, allowing you to relaunch the paired apps anytime. A much bigger change is that the volume panel has received a completely new design.

It features much thicker pill-shaped sliders and lets you access extra features a lot more quickly. Things like the audio picker to let you switch between connected devices, toggling the live caption, and you can even collapse the menu. To be honest, I would have preferred if the volume bar just expanded even further instead of bringing a whole new menu in, but this is still somewhat of an improvement, at least in terms of appearance.

One of my favorite new features is private space. It's similar to Samsung's secure folder, where you can download new apps alongside your current ones, even if they're duplicates. Plus, you can also download and save new files that are also separated from your main storage space.

These new apps and files will then be locked and stored away in a secret encrypted space that can only be accessed from within the bottom of your app drawer. And when you try to access it, You will of course need to type in your passcode or use your biometrics. The best part is that you can even use a different screen lock outside of your current one that you use to unlock your phone. It's super useful.

I just wish Google would have hidden it a bit better because on the off chance that someone does scroll down to the bottom of your app drawer, it's pretty obvious that you've got a hidden space. If your phone is running out of storage space, Android 15 now lets you archive apps so that you can free up space while still keeping parts of the app. so that if you do decide to bring it back in the future, it reinstalls a lot faster and doesn't require you to set it up again.

Archiving has technically already been available in the Play Store, however, it doesn't let you choose which apps to archive. It automatically archives the apps for you and just the ones that you rarely use. But now, in Android 15, you can jump into the app info page of any app and archive it yourself from there. Another exciting feature that I've been waiting for and is finally here is satellite messaging. I mean, if iPhones have had it for over a year, then why can't Androids?

And as of now, some T-Mobile users have access to this awesome feature since T-Mobile teamed up with SpaceX to support it for existing LTE-capable phones. It's extremely useful since you'll be able to text anyone, including emergency services, even if you're in a remote area. Now we just have to wait for more carriers to jump on board too.

This next one is interesting. On Android 15, if you turn off your Bluetooth, it will now automatically turn on again the very next day. You can still disable this by heading into the Settings, Connected Devices, Connection Preferences, Bluetooth, and turning off the second toggle.

However, the reason why Google made this option is because they're enabling their new Find My Device network. This network will use billions of androids to help you locate your lost device and it only works if each android has bluetooth enabled because that's how the devices will be able to communicate with one another. If your bluetooth is turned off then you won't be able to contribute to the Find My Device network, and you won't be able to help others find their lost device.

And since we're talking about Bluetooth, its tile within the Quick Settings now expands to let you quickly switch between paired devices. That way, you no longer need to jump into the settings. Definitely been waiting for that one for a long time too.

Some of you probably didn't know this, but you can use your Android as a webcam by just connecting it to the computer and then changing the USB preference to webcam. And now in Android 15, there's a new button in the bottom left corner of the preview screen that lets you enable high quality mode. And honestly, it does make a huge difference.

Just keep in mind that using it could increase the battery temperature, especially if you're doing video calls that are hours long. Unlike iOS, Androids for the longest have let you change most of your default apps. So you can change your phone app, browser, SMS, digital assistant, and more to any other third-party alternative. Now with Android 15, you get one more option.

And that is to change your default wallet app to anything else that isn't Google Wallet. Pretty handy. The Pixel Launcher also got a few improvements, like within the widgets panel, you now get more recommendations in a swipeable format.

Plus each page is categorized. And the last one shows you some widgets that you may like based on your usage patterns. To top it off, apps can now make those widget recommendations in the panel a bit more personal.

So for example, if there's a contact widget, it will now show a picture of your favorite contact instead of a random person. It just makes it a bit more personal. Another nice addition is that when you tap on a widget, you'll now get an add button to have the widget instantly drop on the home screen instead of needing to long press and drag it, which you can still do by the way. Within the home settings, there's also a new menu called Apps List Settings, and inside of it there's currently just one option called Swipe Up to Start Search.

It's nothing new, I mean... This setting used to be within the search settings menu. However, according to Michal, this page could eventually contain a new option that lets you enable two lines for apps with long names within the search results and app drawer, which is set to wait and see.

And even though this also isn't live yet, within the reasons page, Google may also turn the apps icon into a pill, making it a lot more obvious that it's a drop-down menu with extra options. Looks pretty clean. Vibrations within the OS have also been vastly improved in various different ways.

The biggest is that for Pixel users, there is now a new adaptive vibration feature which will let the phone automatically adjust the vibration based on your environment. So if you're in a really loud place, like a concert, the vibration will be a lot more violent. But if you're in a quieter place, like a library, then the vibration will be a lot more subtle. The way it knows is by using your phone's microphone and other sensors to determine the sound levels around you. Seems like a pretty good idea, but then again, I wonder how much battery life this will actually consume since it's constantly needing to use the microphone and various sensors on its own.

your phone. Plus, I know some of you might be concerned about your privacy since the microphone will constantly be listening. Within the vibration and haptics menu of the settings, there is also a new option at the very bottom called keyboard vibration, which lets you disable the keyboard haptics of any keyboard app you're using. Plus, even if your keyboard app doesn't let you disable the touch vibrations, this OS setting will, which is nice.

When changing the brightness or the volume level, you now also get some haptic feedback. It's super subtle, but still some nice additions. And finally, apps will be able to set different vibration styles for their incoming notifications. That way, you could theoretically know what type of notification you just received based on the vibration pattern without needing to look at the screen or have your volume on.

If you only pick... pixel fold or a pixel tablet, you'll now have the option to long press the dock and have it always be shown when you're within any app. And you can still bring up circle to search by long pressing the app drawer icon. I still prefer the taskbar getting automatically hidden though so that I don't lose any screen real estate, but having that extra option is still nice.

Just like how you can check your phone's battery health, Android 15 now lets you check the health of your storage chip. If you didn't know, every time you take a photo, download something, or launch a file, Android needs to read or write onto the phone's storage chip, and over time this can wear it down. Granted, it'll take years till you see any negative side effects, but eventually, a worn out storage chip could slightly degrade the phone's performance, or even fail to work in the future.

But now you can see the storage's lifetime. As of now, it only works on the Google Pixels, and you will need to download an extra app to be able to see this hidden screen. So you must download Activity Launcher from the Play Store, scroll down until you see Device Diagnostics, then tap on Main Activity, launch the activity, then tap on Component Health, and then Storage Status.

Plus, within the same Component Health page, you can take a look at your battery health too. And speaking of the Fold, you'll now have more control over what happens when you Fold or Unfold the device while using any apps. There's a new menu within the settings called Continue Using Apps Unfold and it's pretty self-explanatory.

If you like all your apps to automatically transition between screens whenever you fold or unfold the device, you can set it to always. If you'd like to get a swipe up confirmation to continue to use the app on the other screen, you can set it to the second option. Or if you'd like your front display to stay locked whenever you fold your device, then you can set it to never.

It just gives you more control because before, it would kind of be unpredictable which apps would automatically transition to the inner or outer screen without any lock screen verification first. Another change some of you may notice is that when you're within certain apps or system screens and you start to swipe to go back, you'll now see a sneak peek of the previous page. The reason for this is because of a feature called Predictive Back Gestures, which was first introduced in Android 14, but wasn't fully enabled then, but now in Android 15, it is.

So if you've never enabled this feature within the developer options, you'll now be forced to use it. and you can't even disable it anymore because the option to toggle it on or off is gone. For the few of you who love to use desktop mode, Android 15 has also improved it.

It's not officially live yet, and it's still nowhere near as good as Samsung DeX, but it's still an improvement. Mashal from Android Police has managed to get it working by enabling several hidden flags within the code, and in his screen recording, we can see several new changes and design tweaks. For example, when an app is full screened, there is now a bar that will appear at the top, and tapping it will bring up a new menu to let you quickly transform the window into different modes, including split screen or freeform. When a window is in freeform, it'll also now have an improved title bar similar to regular desktops where you can quickly close them, enlarge them, and even see the app's icon and the title.

I even love that you can now drag the window to the edges of the screen to enlarge it halfway, and when you resize a window, the contents inside of it will get temporarily hidden. They're great new features, but again, the OS still has a long way to go before it can replace a full desktop operating system. And if you're using your phone or tablet as a desktop, then you most likely have a physical keyboard to go with it.

Well, in Yandere 15, it's also gotten a few new updates. Firstly, within the settings, it'll now show you a preview of the keyboard layout that is currently selected. It can't come in handy when you're trying to use a keyboard that has a different physical layout than what you're used to. And for those with motor disabilities or if you struggle to type on a keyboard, there are also three new features within the accessibility section.

There's sticky keys, which lets you press keyboard shortcuts one key at a time, instead of having to hold down multiple simultaneously. Slow keys adjust the time it takes for a key press to activate, it'll change it to 500 milliseconds, and bounce keys lets the keyboard ignore rapid repeated presses of the same key within 500 milliseconds. I've been an Android user for over a decade, and during that time I've tried countless of smartphone cases. It's always been a challenge to find one that strikes the perfect balance between protection and a sleek design.

However, Taurus, the sponsor of this video, has always managed to pull this off And they're even the pioneers of circular stands for cases. I've worked with them plenty of times in the past and I keep coming back to their cases because I just love how clean and minimal they look, how useful they can be with their rotatable 360 degree ring, and how much protection they provide. Their newest 360 degree MagSafe stand cases take this even further. I've enjoyed using their O-Stand Spin Case because it lets me prop up my Galaxy S24 Ultra at four different angles.

It's super useful for when I'm trying to take selfies or watching videos hands-free. And it's clear that Torres has put a lot of thought into the design. I also love that it has a built-in magnet which is so strong that I can easily attach the phone to any metal surface which adds a whole new level of convenience to my daily routine. It's little touches like this that make using their cases such a pleasure. They also have the Ostend R which has a fully rotatable 360 degree ring so I can stand my phone in any direction and it sits flush against the case, keeping it sleek and pocket friendly.

Overall, I'm genuinely thrilled with Taurus's O-Stand cases. If you're looking for a case that combines elegance, protection, and innovative features, look no further. Check out Taurus's O-Stand cases through the top link in the description. You won't be disappointed. Anyways, those are most of the major changes that Google has released within Android 15 thus far, but there are also a ton of tinier improvements.

that are also welcome. The first is that when you try to change your screen timeout within the settings, Android 15 will now force you to enter your passcode or your biometric unlocking method first. The same goes for when you connect your phone to your computer, and you try to switch the USB preference to any other option, like file transfer. Within the storage menu, the settings, the system option has now been expanded towards the bottom. So now you can see how much space the actual Android OS is taking up, and how much cache and other temporary files your system is using.

When adding an extra user to your phone, you can now choose to use the same profile picture from your Google account, or any Google account that's on your phone, instead of using a random cartoon. HealthConnect now adds two more data types to sync across all health-related apps, including skin temperature and training plans. Android 15 could enhance video stabilization for third-party apps like Snapchat or Instagram.

A new camera extension called Eyes-Free Videography allows these apps to lock and stabilize a specific region or object of interest. Even phones that don't end up getting this extension from the manufacturer can benefit thanks to a new setting called Allow Camera Software Extensions, which lets third-party camera apps to use this feature. Most of you have probably never thought about this, but when sending a text or making a phone call, you're probably assuming that your mobile network is safe to use and that there's probably no one snooping on the other end. And for the majority of the time, this may be the case. But there could be a rare chance that your phone gets tricked into connecting to a device that mimics a cell tower.

It's known as a stingray attack. And you've probably seen it in a few movies where the cops or some hacking team tries to intercept a line to listen in on someone's phone calls. And in real life, cops use this too, by the way.

Well, in Android 15, Google now has a few new mobile network security features to combat these attacks. The first option warns you when your device connects to an unencrypted network, or when a network is recording your device's unique ID or SIM ID. And the second option lets you connect to only encrypted networks. Just keep in mind that if you enable this, your mobile network may be limited in some locations because not every network out there is encrypted.

And while we're talking about network security, Android 15 now lets you avoid connecting to any WEP Wi-Fi networks. They're basically older security protocols that were introduced in the 90s and are a lot less secure than Wi-Fi networks that use WPA. This one is mostly for developers, but within the developer options there is now a new setting called Show HDR slash SDR Ratio, and as the name clearly states, it shows you the ratio between HDR and SDR composition for any photos when they are full screened. And those are all the tinier changes found within Android 15. Now let's discuss some under the hood changes that also improve the OS.

For this section though, I'll only discuss the major ones you probably care about because I'm pretty sure that unless you're a developer, you wouldn't want to hear about every new API change or ones that are added to the OS. The first big improvement is that according to Dave Burke, the VP of Engineering for the Android platform, Android 15 has managed to improve standby time by up to three hours. They did this by making a variety of optimizations, with the biggest one being that they sped up the time to enter Doze by 50%. Pretty awesome.

So if you update to Android 15 on some devices, you could see much better battery life when your phone is idle. There are also plenty of new fraud and scam protection improvements that have been introduced in Android 15. The first is that when you're trying to sign into your account and you receive a text message with a one-time password, most apps on your phone won't be able to see this notification, protecting you from a malicious app that is trying to obtain that code. Plus, when you're screen sharing with others, incoming notifications, OTPs, and login details will now be hidden automatically.

Google is also expanding the restricted settings so that apps will now need to obtain even more approval from users to enable certain permissions when they're sideloaded from the web. And Google Play Protect will now use on-device AI to better detect suspicious apps that are trying to access sensitive permissions or trying to interact with your apps or services on your phone. Another big change is that Android for Teen will allow third-party apps to obtain similar features that Google's Digital Wellbeing has. This includes letting apps change various screen options, similar to the Bedtime mode. For example, they can now let you enable the grayscale, dim the wallpaper, disable the always-on display, turn on the dark theme, and more within their app.

So I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more productivity apps take advantage of this in the future. This next one could be a bummer for a few of you, In Android 15, you will no longer be able to install older apps that target Android 6.0 Marshmallow or lower. Before, on Android 14, the bar was at around Android 5.1 or lower. But I guess Google decided to raise it. So if you're planning on installing a really old app like Flappy Bird, you won't be able to do that anymore.

Some apps may- even run a lot more smoothly within Android 15. And this is because Google is now supporting 16 kilobyte page sizes. Before it only supported 4 kilobyte memory page sizes, but now it's quadrupled the amount. So if an app has heavy pages filled with various animations, effects, videos, etc. They should now have a lot less trouble running without lagging. And those are all the changes found within Android 15 thus far.

Now let's talk about features that could arrive in Android 15 in some future beta builds based on rumors and leaks. The first is that Android 15 could change the look of the status bar icons, specifically the Wi-Fi, mobile data, and even the battery. This is crazy because these icons haven't been updated since 2014 when Android 5.0 Lollipop was released.

To be honest, not many people are fans of this new look, including myself. I think Google could do a lot better if these actually do arrive. This next one is pretty cool if it gets released.

There will now be a new option within the accessibility settings that will let you force all the apps on your phone to become dark even if they don't support it. And sure, there's already a toggle within the developer options called Override Force Dark that essentially does the same thing, but this new option by Google claims to work even better since Google made some additional under the hood changes to make it affect even more apps. Crossing my fingers that this one makes it into the cut.

Android 15 could also finally bring back lock screen widgets. However, according to Mashal from Android Authority, it could only work on Android tablets. So that's kind of a bummer.

Still, it's a win for all Android tablet owners out there. And by the way, this video demo that Mashal screen captured is a very early look at how these lock screen widgets will look. As you can tell, it's still a work in progress, but you can get a sense of how it'll work in the future. On the bright side, even though our smartphones may not get full lock screen widget support, we could still get a smaller version of that. Something that's pretty similar to live activities on iOS, where you'll get a swipeable widget at the bottom with all of your currently running activities.

Things like the timer, weather, upcoming events, and more. To be honest though, it just looks like they brought the at a glance widget to the bottom of the screen, but if we're able to customize it even further, and be able to choose which apps to be shown, then it could be a nice addition. Another rumor is that Android 15 could end up adding support for a new way to wirelessly charge your Android device, and that's with NFC.

That's right, this new technology was launched in the middle of 2020, and it allows a single antenna in an NFC-enabled device to manage both charging and communications. What a time to be alive. And I guess Google could finally be supporting this on their OS.

Another neat addition is that we may see a new screensaver that lets you control all of your smart home products. The page looks extremely similar to what we currently have when you tap on the home tile in the quick settings. I'm super pumped for this.

We may also end up seeing a new option called Color Contrast within the Wallpaper and Style page. This page lets you adjust the contrast of the text, buttons, and icons to make them pop more. Audio sharing could end up being a thing on Android 15. This feature will let others listen to the same music that you're listening to. on their headphones.

This is possible thanks to a newer Bluetooth LE audio standard that comes with a feature called Aurocast. And with this feature you're able to broadcast your audio to nearby devices. Within the screenshots that Michel provided, it even seems that you can just have your friend scan a QR code generated by the feature to be able to connect to your music.

You just have to make sure that both pair of headphones support the Bluetooth LE audio standard. Android 15 may also come with a new adaptive timeout setting that automatically turns off your screen a bit earlier than what you set it to if it finds out that you're not using your device. Michel found this within Android 15's code and there's not much of an explanation of how the phone is able to know that you left it, but his guess is that it'll use your device's front-facing camera and some of the phone's sensors, which makes sense. To help improve security even further, Android 15 could also introduce a new page letting you quarantine apps. In this quarantine state, that app won't be able to show notifications, all of its windows will be hidden, activities will be stopped, it won't be able to ring the phone, and a lot more.

It's basically just disabling the app without actually uninstalling it, similar to the app pausing feature found within the digital wellbeing service. This one is exciting if it actually ends up working. For games that don't support anything higher than 60 FPS, Android 15 could include a toggle within the developer options that disables limiting the default frame rate for games set to 60Hz. So it should essentially force a game to run a higher refresh rate, including 90, 120, or even 144Hz.

The only downside is that even though Michal was able to try out this feature, he couldn't find a game to actually push it past 60Hz. I guess it only worked for a very small number of games so far. Anyways, those are every major feature found within Android 15 thus far. Obviously, it's not a huge update with a completely revamped interface like how Android 12 was, but it's still got a good amount of new features that improve the OS as a whole. I've been rocking it on my Pixel 8 Pro, and I've been loving it.

Again, here's a list of devices that support it so far, so if you want to update to it, I'll leave a link right below the like button to join the Android 15 beta program. Also, tap this video to learn about some awesome Chrome flags that you can enable on your device to improve your browsing experience. Thanks so much for sticking to the end.

To show that you're a true fan, drop a heart emoji in the comment section and I'll really appreciate it. Kapow!

Transcript for:Overview of Android 15 Features

Transcript for:
Overview of Android 15 Features