Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “6 NEW Android 15 features you NEED to know about! (Android 15 Beta 1)”.
If you like to live life on the edge, then Android, 15 public beta 1 is out now for you to go and download. But it’s not going to be one of these big major revamps of Android. Instead, what it’s going to be is a few tweaks here and there, and if you do, want to go and download this, you can check the description below CU. There is a guide that can help you get that beta up and running on your device, but as always be careful installing a beta as it is not the most secure software. So I would advise making sure that you back up your phone before you go and do anything.
Sadly, there aren’t any major changes in Android 15 this time time around, but I have picked out some things that I think that you might be interested in and the first one is the ability to now be able to Archive apps. We first leaked this information on Android authority back in March, but essentially, what this does is. It allows you to free up space by partially removing apps that you haven’t really used in a while. Essentially, this just means saving you a load of space on your device and also being able to keep the important information that you need when you go to redownload that app. So, for example, all your login information is still there when you need it. If you come to use the app again to do this, just go into your settings, go to apps and hit the archive button, and when you want to get that app back again, all you have to do is the same, but this time instead, you just restore It from the app screen – and you might be thinking well – have we not seen this before through the Google Play Store, and yet you have. You can do this through the Play Store, but this is the first time it is now baked right in to Android 15. Google Wallet is seeing one of the bigger changes through the Android 15 beta now, with the option of being able to change your default wallet to something other that isn’t the Google Wallet.
If you already have that beta, this is actually live now, and you can do it so to have a look at this. You need to go into your settings, go to apps and have a look at those default apps and when you scroll down to the wallet app, you can change this to anything that Google allows you and at the moment there isn’t a huge amount of apps. You can change this to and, of course, we’re not even sure exactly how many apps are going to be coming to this default. Google apps, but when it does all those NFC payments will go through that new app instead of Google Wallet.
I’D expect to see things like Loyalty cards or maybe even car keys, come to the Google BL default option because that would be actually really useful, but yet we’re not 100 % sure what will be coming. But we do know that what you can do now is change that Google Wallet to something else by default. Something else that has got a bit of a change in Android 15 is accessibility, and what Google have done here is they have added Braille support through its settings. We can never see enough accessibility, support on a Google pixel and to access this.
It is through the TalkBack option in the settings, and now what this means is that it will be able to support Braille displays that are connected via USB and secure Bluetooth for people that do need to use this feature. Then Android 15 will be fantastic because you can access this through its accessibility settings and, of course anything that can make a Google pixel easier for people to use is always good in our eyes. Another feature that we revealed on Android authority before Google officially announced it was that edgo edge apps are coming. This means that apps will just take up the entirety of that display and apps that are targeted at Android 15 will automatically fill up the entire display, even if the developer chooses for it to happen or not, and here’s a little bit of a look at what This will look like, and obviously this will be really beneficial for things like the pixel tablet and the pixel fold, and it kind of means that all major apps will eventually look like this, and it will give Android a bit more of a unified look across all Of your devices – and I’m surprised – we haven’t seen this at all in any of the other betas regarding those larg displays, but actually talking of those larger displays.
If you have a pixel tablet, then Google is about to allow you to add widgets to your lock screen and – and I know that Google removed this a while ago from its pixel tablets, but with the latest beta. It looks like it’s about to make a comeback. All you have to do to have a look at these widgets go into settings and go into Hub mode. You’Ll then be able to toggle on showing widgets on that home screen and you’ll be able to view them without the need to unlock your pixel tablet.
And this is something that is so long overdue and what the pixel tablet should have just been able to do from the start, and now you can add, widgets such as battery calendar, Fitbit, pixel weather photos and a couple more there’s. Also another toggle found in public beta 1, which is the ability to have any widget on that lock screen, and this is called glanceable views, and that will be something a little bit more interesting to have a look at further on down the line when the Android 15 betas get a little bit more traction behind them. A few other things that we’ve seen in the latest betas as well is things like satellite connectivity coming to Android 15. There is some code buried into the Beta that reveals that Google is preparing to release a built-in satellite messaging feature in partnership with T-Mobile we’ve even seen the satellite messaging screen in the settings, and this describes how you can send and receive messages by satellite.
Even when you have no cellular service, it also mentions that your pixel will automatically connect to satellite and explains exactly the perfect conditions for that connection. We’Re not 100 %, whether this will come to older pixel devices on Android 15 or whether it’ll just be saved. For those brand new pixel, 9 series phones coming in a couple of months, but either way way.
This is a great feature that we might be able to get very soon on Google pixels and there could be a new home control screen saver coming to Android 15. Actually named home controls, and although this isn’t available right now on Android 15 public beta 1, here at Android authority, we have seen it, and this is exactly what it looks like it’s enabled in the screen saver settings as a new toggle and once it’s on it Gives you access to everything in your smart home – and this is a really nice welcome feature. You can get this on both your pixel tablet and your pixel phone and to get this on the pixel tablet. It’S done the exact same way in settings and screen saver, but of course it does look a little bit different given that bigger display – and I think this would be fantastic on the bigger pixel tablet and the pixel fold – and there are some of the really cool Features on Android, 15 and ones that could be coming to Android 15 in the future. But let us know what do you think of Android 15 and remember if you want to download this on your device, you can do it now, but check the description below and that will give you a guide on the Android Authority website to exactly how to do It but remember make sure you do a backup if this is something you want to do, because installing beta software is never 100 % guaranteed safe.
So it’s always good to have a backup to make sure you don’t lose anything before you head off. Why not subscribe to the Android authority YouTube channel for more of our Android 15 coverage in the next couple of months? And if you do that, then I will see you in the next article. .