Mountain View, California – Google has announced the release of Android 15 Developer Preview 1. This marks the ninth consecutive year of Google providing an early look at the direction Android is heading before the stable launch later this year.
The move to kick off the preview in February, for the fifth year in a row, is aimed at giving developers more time to provide feedback and update their apps in anticipation of the stable release.
Several key features of Android 15 were highlighted, including a focus on protecting user privacy and security. This involves the latest versions of the Privacy Sandbox on Android and Health Connect, with new fitness, nutrition, and other data types. Google also mentioned partial screen sharing and Casting from Android 14 QPR2.
One of the new additions is a File Integrity Manager with APIs that leverage the power of the fs-verity feature in the Linux kernel. This provides enhanced security by protecting against potential malware or unauthorized file modifications that could compromise an app’s functionality or data.
For creators, In-app Camera Controls offer more control over the camera hardware and its algorithms on supported devices. Additionally, Android 15 extends Universal MIDI Packets (UMP) support to virtual MIDI apps to allow composition applications to control synthesizer apps as a virtual MIDI 2.0 device.
In terms of performance and quality, Google is offering new Android Dynamic Performance Framework (ADPF) capabilities. These APIs allow games and other performance-intensive apps to interact more directly with the power and thermal systems of Android devices.
Lastly, on the developer productivity front, Android 15 adds more OpenJDK APIs, including quality-of-life improvements around NIO buffers, streams, security, and more.
The Android 15 Developer Preview system images are currently available for several Pixel devices, as well as the Android Emulator. However, Google has advised developers about potential issues with sideloading the Developer Preview 1 build and has offered recommendations for moving from Android 14 QPR3 to Developer Preview 1.
The release of Android 15 Developer Preview marks an opportunity for developers to explore and provide feedback on the new features and enhancements before the stable launch later this year. The preview version is available for manual download and flashing/sideloading, with the public-facing Android Beta coming later in April.