Google LLC today announced the release of the first beta test version of Android 15, opening up the upcoming operating system for both developers and early adopters to test out.

The new release of the Android platform includes updates that improve underlying performance, such as OS-level support for app archiving, improved communication and better support for apps targeting large screens. Communications on Android have also been updated for Braille displays and the beta prioritized security and privacy.

Edge-to-edge display now default

Apps in Android 15 are designed to fit large screens by default now, meaning that they no longer need to explicitly call the functions Window.setDecorFitsSystemWindows(false) or enableEdgeToEdge() to show content behind system bars. However, apps should use enableEdgeToEdge() to work properly on earlier versions of Android.

Many of the Material 3 composables and components will handle inserts for developers, based on how they are placed in the app according to framework specifications. This will assist the app in going edge-to-edge and avoid prominent touch targets in the app from being overlapped by system targets or other elements.

Performance improvements in apps

App archiving capability was announced last year by Android and Google Play, which allows users to free up space by partially removing infrequently used apps from the device.

Android 15 has added OS-level support for app archiving and app unarchiving, which will make it easier for app stores to take advantage of it and users will have more free space on their devices. When an app is archived, it removes the Android package kit, the package that contains the files an app needs to install and function on a device as well as any cached data, while retaining user data.

Apps can now manage and collect profiling information from within apps to help improve performance using a new PerformanceManager class. The Android team said plans are to wrap this with an Android Jetpack application programming interface that will make it possible to simplify collecting heap dumps, stack sampling and more. The API also includes a rate limiter so that it does not impact performance.

Android 15 and Braille

Android’s built-in screen reader, TalkBack, has been updated with support for Braille displays using the Human Interface Devices standard over both USB and secure Bluetooth. The HID standard is a device class definition that opened up USB drivers to a variety of devices such as mice, keyboards and game controllers, so it should provide more accessibility for Braille displays for Android devices over time.

Security updates

Android 15 has made additional changes to how background apps operate to prevent them from bringing other apps to the foreground, elevating privileges and abusing user interactions. This will give users more control over their devices and prevent malicious apps from controlling devices behind the scenes. Background activity launches have been restricted since Android 10 and this enhancement should further solidify that control.

Now that Android 15 has entered its beta phase, users can enroll any supported Pixel device to get this release and future Android Beta updates installed over the air. It is also possible to test out this beta release with a 64-bit system image on Android Emulator in Android Studio.

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