During yesterday’s big Google I/O keynote, Google talked about a handful of new AI features coming to Android, including a new change to Circle to Search, as well as AI-powered scam protections. One day later, Google has a trove of new Android 15 announcements, starting with the reveal that Android 15 beta 2 is now available.
Android 15 beta 2 is available on quite a few smartphones
Android betas traditionally start on Pixel, but with beta 2, many smartphone users can try out Android 15 early. The beta is now available on Pixel, iQOO, Lenovo, Nothing, OnePlus, OPPO, Sharp, Realme, Techno, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor. If you have a compatible smartphone, give the beta a shot if you want to try out these new features. (Just know beta software isn’t finished, so there’s the risk for bugs and lost data.)
Private space
Google calls “private space” a “digital safe within your phone,” and for good reason. The feature lives at the bottom of your app drawer, and requires a second layer of authentication to access. From here, you can add whatever apps you want, so they don’t appear on your home screen or in your app drawer. Think health, banking, or even certain messaging apps: Private space hides the app’s icon, its data, and even its notifications. If you want, private space can be invisible altogether, although it’s not clear where it’d live in this case.
Selected photos access
When you give an app partial access to your media, that means it can see only a select number of photos and videos from your library. Google is making it possible with Android 15 beta 2 to access only recently selected media. That way, apps that frequently ask for photos and videos can grab these items quickly, without you constantly having to adjust the permissions yourself.
One-time passwords are now hidden from notifications
This is a great security feature in Android 15: Malware tends to rely on OTP notifications to steal these codes and break into your accounts. Going forward, the codes will be hidden from most notifications, so you’ll need to tap through to see what your OTP is. Google also says it’s expanding the restricted settings that require user approval when installing apps from the web.
Screen sharing is more secure
When you share your screen in Android 15, the OS will automatically hide both notifications and OTPs. It will also hide the screen when you enter your password and credit card information, and soon, more phones will have the Pixel’s ability to share a specific app’s screen, rather than your entire screen at once. Plus, Google is adding a more obvious screen sharing icon that makes it easy to disable the share at any time.
Cellular security upgrades
Google will now warn you if your cellular network is unencrypted, which could let bad actors listen in on calls and read your SMS texts. Plus, Google will warn at-risk users, like journalists, if a false cellular base or surveillance tool is hijacking their location.
Updated multitasking on large screens
Google has been working on an optimized Android experience for tablets in recent years. With Android 15 beta 2, you can now pin the taskbar on-screen, so you can quickly access apps and split-screen app combinations.
Choose how you’re addressed
Android will soon let you choose the gender you’d like to be addressed as, in gendered languages. Google tested this feature first in French, but it will soon be available in other gendered languages. You can choose from non-personalized, feminine, masculine, or neutral.
Saving items to Google Wallet from a photo
Android 15 is making adding passes to Google Wallet even easier: Google says you will soon be able to snap a picture of any pass—say, a ticket, gym membership, library card, etc. From here, Android can turn it into a digital pass that you can save to Google Wallet. It joins the ability to save digital items containing barcodes and QR codes.
AR content in Google Maps
Google is rolling out augmented reality content in Google Maps with Android 15: They’re kicking things off with AR experiences for Singapore and Paris, and will presumably add more cities as they go. Google wants you to use AR content to learn more about a particular location, which has merit: If you can point your phone’s camera at a building in the city you’re visit and learn more about it, that’s pretty neat (but might spark a bit of an existential crisis for tour guides).
Google built-in is expanding
Google says Google built-in is coming to more cars, such as the Acura ZDX and Ford Explorer. Built-in adds apps from your phone to your car’s built-in display, and Google says developers are making more apps compatible with the service.
Plus, Google Cast is coming to cars with Android Automotive OS, beginning with Rivian in “coming months.” You can beam videos from your device to the car’s display, which sounds great for passengers and treacherous for the driver.
Google TV now has Gemini
Google TV now uses Gemini to suggest content for you to watch. This includes AI-generated descriptions based on your watch history and “actor preferences.” Cool. A better use for this tech is in missing or untranslated descriptions: Any time the system runs into this situation, which may have left you stuck in the past, the AI fills in the gaps.
RCS is coming to Japan
Apple isn’t the only one getting RCS support this year: Google says Japan is also getting the protocol. Details are light at this time, but soon, Android users in Japan will be able to take advantage of RCS’s end-to-end encryption, high-res photo and videos, and functioning group chats. (That last one shouldn’t be a “feature,” but, well, here we are.)
Find My Device is expanding
Google’s Find My Device service is a worthy competitor to Apple’s Find My, harnessing the greater Android community to help locate your missing items. Later this month, Google says you’ll be able to find things using trackers from Chipolo and Pebblebee. Later this year, companies like eufy, Jio, and Motorola will also join the Find My Device ecosystem.
Theft detection lock (coming later this year)
Here’s one positive use for AI: Theft Detection Lock, arriving at some point later this year, will sense if your phone has been stolen by looking out for “theft motion.” How exactly this works isn’t obvious, but Google says if your phone detects that your phone has been snatched, and a thief tries to run, bike, or drive away, Android will lock itself down.
Real-time protection from fraud apps (coming later this year)
Fraud is a real problem on Android. While Google has protections in place to screen apps before they land on the Play Store, plenty of malicious apps still slip through the cracks. Google announced today that, later this year, Google Play Protect will use on-device AI to identify apps that may be fraudulent or engaging in phishing. Play Protect will report any suspicious behavior back to Google, and the company will either warn you or take down the app entirely.
Google says this feature is coming to Pixel, Oppo, Honor, Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, Transsion, and Sharp later this year.
Wear OS 5 changes
Google says Wear OS is about to get more energy efficient: Running an outdoor marathon will take up 20% less power than it does with Wear OS 4. Plus, your fitness apps will have data points like ground contact time, stride length, and vertical oscillation, which is a measure of how you move vertically which each stride of your run. (Full disclosure: I had to look that up.)
