Android 15 – or Vanilla Ice Cream as it’s reportedly codenamed – is unlikely to launch in finished form for quite a while yet, but the first developer preview has now arrived, giving us an early taste of Google’s next big Android update.
Ahead of the public betas and final version, numerous possible features and improvements have been leaked, so we already have some ideas of what to expect.
You’ll find all the news and rumors about Android 15 below, including possible features, plus the predicted release date and the phones that are set to support it. Check back here soon too, because we’ll be updating this article whenever there’s new information about Android 15.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next major Android version
- When is it out? Expect the finished version between August-October
- How much will it cost? This will be a free update
Android 15: expected release date
The first Android 15 developer preview is now out and available to download – although we wouldn’t recommend it, unless you are an actual developer. It needs to be manually loaded right now, and versions are available for the Pixel 6 and later Google Pixel phones.
This release had previously been leaked by a Google developer post on the Android Open Source Project (as spotted by 9to5Google). As the name suggests, this is a very early Android 15 release, which will probably be buggy and which doesn’t yet have many upgrades.
In the developer preview announcement blog post, Google’s Dave Burke indicates that a public beta will be along sometime in April, with a full release later in the year – the aim is for “platform stability” from June onwards, so make of that what you will.
The finished version of Android 15 will likely land sometime between August and October, based on past releases. Android 14 launched properly on October 4 of 2023, but Android 13 landed on August 15 of 2022, so it’s hard to predict.
Android 15: compatibility
As usual with Android, it’s Pixel phones that will likely get access to the first previews and betas, as well as being among the first to get the finished Android 15 update. But plenty of other handsets will get Android 15 too.
With most device manufacturers committing to a set number of updates, we also have a good idea of which phones will get Android 15.
On the Google front, everything from the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro onwards should get Android 15, including the Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, and Pixel 8 Pro.
There’s a chance that the Pixel 5a 5G will also get Android 15, as that’s guaranteed updates until August of this year.
For Samsung, the Samsung Galaxy S24, Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S23 line, Galaxy S22 line, and Galaxy S21 line should all get Android 15. As should Samsung’s foldable phones from the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 onwards, including the yet-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Many Galaxy A models will also get Android 15, such as the Galaxy A24, A33, A34, A53 5G, A54 5G, and A73, among others.
Numerous phones from other brands should also get Android 15, with highlights including the OnePlus 12, OnePlus 11, OnePlus Open, Sony Xperia 1 V, Sony Xperia 5 V, Xiaomi 13, and Motorola Razr Plus 2023.
That’s by no means all the phones that we expect to get Android 15. As a general rule, if your phone is mid-range or above and will be no more than two years old at the launch of Android 15, it will probably get the updates. Many older and cheaper phones will too though.
You can also expect to see Android 15 on many Android tablets, such as the Pixel Tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 series.
Android 15: rumored features
While we don’t know for sure what Android 15 will offer yet, a number of possible features have been leaked. You’ll find these below.
Battery health percentage
One small but extremely useful new feature we might see in Android 15 is a battery health percentage. This would allow you to see the estimated percentage of charge the battery can currently hold compared to when it was new, so you’d have a clear indication of how worn out your phone’s battery is.
That can be beneficial in particular when trying to diagnose whether increased battery drain is due to a worn-out battery of some misbehaving software.
It’s a feature you’ll already find in iOS, and an inactive version of it has been found hidden in an Android 14 update by Android Authority and Nail Sadykov (the editor of the Google News Telegram group). So it’s definitely a feature Google is working on, and it’s a likely candidate for Android 15.
Android hasn’t natively supported lock screen widgets since Android 4.2, but they might be coming back with Android 15, as a hidden ‘Communal Space’ feature has been found in a recent Android beta. Spotted by Android Authority, this unfinished feature would let you add widgets to a Communal Space on the lock screen.
However, there are a couple of big caveats here. First, there’s currently only support for Google Calendar, Google Clock, and the Google app, although it’s likely more apps would be supported in time for launch.
Second, this appears to currently only be designed for devices with Hub mode, which now means just the Pixel Tablet. So it could be quite limited.
Private Space
Android 15 could also include a native version of Samsung’s Secure Folder feature, giving non-Samsung phones the ability to hide sensitive apps in a separate, hidden area called Private Space.
Spotted in unfinished form in a recent Android beta by Android Police, Private Space would require a PIN, pattern, password, or biometrics to access, and would contain its own instance of the Google Play Store, which you could use to download apps you don’t ‘t want anyone else to use your phone to know you have or be able to open.
These apps would appear only within the Private Space, making this a handy feature if you ever pass your phone to someone else.
Bluetooth Auracast
A recent Android 14 update has lots of code mentioning Bluetooth audio sharing hidden in it, which strongly suggests that Bluetooth Auracast support is in the works.
This is a feature that lets you share the audio you’re listening to on your phone – be it music, a podcast, or whatever else – with other people around you over Bluetooth. It allows multiple Bluetooth headphones or earphones to tune into the same audio stream, so you could for example listen to an album in sync with a friend.
The code that’s been spotted mentions the use of QR codes to let other people tune into what you’re listening to, so they wouldn’t have to go through the usual Bluetooth pairing process either.
Easy mode
If you’re reading this then you probably don’t need Android to be any simpler, but some less tech savvy people in your life might, and Google is apparently working on a feature to help with that.
A hidden settings page for a new feature called ‘easy pre-set’ has been spotted by Android Authority in a recent Android beta, and code strings explain that this feature would optimize the Android UI for “improved readability and ease of navigation,” by “enlarging icons and text, adding contrast and bold, and adding navigation buttons to the bottom of the screen.”
So this would likely benefit not just those who are less comfortable with technology, but also people with impaired vision or dexterity. The feature doesn’t work yet, but it may well land as part of Android 15.
App archiving
Android 14 already has an app archiving feature, in which the Google Play Store will automatically archive apps you don’t often use, in order to claw back storage space. But this version of it only works within the Play Store, and you can’t manually choose to archive an app.
With Android 15, you might be able to choose which apps to archive – a process which removes part of the app without fully uninstalling it, so you don’t lose the icon on your home screen, and nor do you have to fully set it up again next time you launch it, but you can still get some storage space back.
Various hints that manual app archiving is in the works have been found by Android Authority in Android code, so while there’s no guarantee this will come with Android 15, there’s a good chance.
Saved app pairs
If you make much use of split-screen modes on your Android device, you probably have certain pairs of apps that you tend to use together, such as YouTube and Chrome. And with Android 15, you might be able to save these pairs, so you can automatically launch the two side-by-side.
Google is definitely working on this, as the feature was found hidden in a recent Android beta by Android Police, so the question really is just when it will launch. The site even managed to get this feature working, so it’s apparently almost ready for launch, which means it might land in a future version of Android 14 rather than Android 15. But we’d certainly expect to see it in Android 15 if not before .
A DeX-like desktop mode
We’re not so sure we’ll see this feature, but Android Authority reports that Google is working on a polished desktop mode that can be shown on an external display when you plug your phone in with a USB-C cable, and the site has also spotted that display output via USB-C has been activated on the Pixel 8 in a recent Android 14 beta.
This doesn’t provide the rumored polished desktop experience, but it could be a step towards delivering that with Android 15.
