After two developer previews, Android 15 is ready for a full beta release.
a]:text-gray-13″>If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Android 15’s first public beta is available to download now, provided you have a Pixel phone and a bit of a sense of adventure. It’s the first consumer-facing release after two developer previews, and while we have a good idea of what to expect from Google’s next mobile OS version, we’ll certainly hear more at the company’s annual developer conference soon enough.
The blog post highlighting updates in today’s release covers some pretty pedestrian stuff. Apps will scale edge to edge by default and will draw behind translucent system bars on the top and bottom of the screen, rather than around them. There’s OS-level support for app archiving and unarchiving so third-party app stores can take advantage of this feature. Android 15 will also provide better support for Braille displays.
There’s more going on under the hood than that, much of which seems to be aimed at getting hardware and software working together more harmoniously. And we’ve also seen signs of some bigger changes coming, no doubt to be highlighted at this year’s Google I/O. Satellite messaging appears to be a thing, and Desktop mode might be getting a little DeX-ier. We’ll get all the details — big and small — soon enough; I/O is just over a month away.
