What it’s essential to know
- The second Android 15 beta launch introduces “Personal area,” permitting customers to cover apps in a safe, separate profile, bettering privateness.
- Moreover, apps can now request entry solely to current pictures as a substitute of your entire library.
- New safety measures additionally forestall malicious apps from working within the background or gaining unauthorized privileges.
- The replace is offered on choose units from varied producers, and it is going to be accessible over the air to these enrolled within the Android 14 QPR beta.
A day after Google’s I/O 2024 convention, the corporate launched Android 15 Beta 2. This replace packs main enhancements in productiveness, privateness, safety, app efficiency, and battery well being.
The most recent construct is up for grabs on choose Google Pixel and plenty of of your favourite Android telephones from manufacturers like Honor, iQOO, Lenovo, Nothing, OnePlus, OPPO, Realme, Sharp, Tecno, Vivo, and Xiaomi. We’re nearing a secure launch, however if you happen to’re longing for a sneak peek, try this new beta.
Similar to the final beta, Android 15 Beta 2 is filled with a great deal of new options. One cool addition is Personal area, which helps you to cover apps in a separate space, just like Samsung’s Safe Folder. Google has been engaged on this characteristic since 2023, and it is lastly right here.
Personal area makes use of a separate profile, so apps you cover there cannot be seen by others or run within the background when locked. You may even set a unique lock for it than your principal cellphone. Plus, you may hold your non-public stuff separate however nonetheless share it with different apps when it’s essential to.
One other cool replace is that apps can now ask for entry to simply your most up-to-date pictures, not your entire library. That is useful for these occasions when apps appear to need your total life story in footage.
Google has additionally introduced that dav1d, the favored AV1 software program decoder from VideoLAN, is now accessible for Android units that do not help AV1 {hardware} decoding. This implies smoother playback of high-quality movies, even on older telephones.
Even higher, this new decoder would be the default for everybody quickly, and a few older telephones (again to Android 11) can get it too by way of Google Play updates.
Android 15 Beta 2 additionally makes multitasking even simpler. You may hold a taskbar useful for switching apps on the fly by pinning it on the display, and you may even save your favourite split-screen combos for immediate entry.
The most recent beta additionally tweaks picture-in-picture (PiP), making transitions smoother when getting into PiP mode. Moreover, Google is spicing up widgets by providing customized previews. Apps focusing on Android 15 can now provide Distant Views to the widget picker, updating the content material to higher mirror what customers will see on their screens.
In Android 15, Google has made the predictive again characteristic a regular possibility, not hidden behind developer settings. This implies smoother system animations like back-to-home, cross-task, and cross-activity will now be seen for appropriate apps.
Well being Join is increasing its help to incorporate new information varieties like pores and skin temperature and coaching plans. Pores and skin temperature monitoring lets customers retailer and share exact temperature readings from wearables or different units. In the meantime, coaching plans present structured exercise routines designed to assist customers meet their health objectives.
Google has additionally launched a brand new characteristic in Android 15 Beta 2 that limits the runtime of sure foreground providers to 6 hours. This modification is aimed toward bettering battery well being.
Google is beefing up safety in Android 15 by giving customers better management to stop malicious apps from working within the background and bringing different apps to the foreground. This replace goals to dam malicious apps from gaining elevated privileges and exploiting consumer interactions.
Since Android 10, restrictions on background exercise launches have been in place. Nonetheless, Google has recognized that “job hijacking” assaults can nonetheless bypass these limitations. To counter this, Google has launched a brand new safety measure in Android 15: a flag that stops apps that do not match the highest consumer ID on the stack from launching actions, thereby mitigating the chance of such assaults.
Android 15 has raised the minimal targetSdkVersion required for app installations from 23 to 24. This modification ensures that each one apps meet newer requirements for efficiency and safety.
Units already enrolled within the Android 14 QPR beta program will mechanically obtain an incremental replace to Android 15 Beta 2 over the air. If you do not have a supported system, you should utilize the 64-bit system photos with the Android Emulator in Android Studio to check the brand new options.