If you have an Android smartphone, then you're probably excited by the prospect of Android 15. It's the latest and greatest Android update that will come to most smartphones released in the last couple of years, and there'll be some big updates and improvements. While most of the changes have been minor, there are some big ones that have been announced at the company's I/O event for Android 15 Beta 2.

1 Private space

A feature we've been hearing about for a while

Private Space is a feature that a lot of people might get use out of it, and it basically makes a feature already on a ton of different smartphone part of the operating system. In essence, you can move apps to another user in your smartphone, so that they won't show up in your launcher or elsewhere on your phone. Plus, they'll even be hidden from the system sharesheet, meaning that you can keep your data safe and secure.

This is a feature that has been on Samsung, Oppo, and more devices for quite a long time, but it's great to see it finally coming to native Android 15. It's been rumored for quite a while with the company showing clear signs of testing it internally, but now it's finally here and you can use it, in Android 15 Beta 2.

2 Better AV1 decoding

If your phone doesn't support AV1 decoding via hardware, now it'll be able to do it well

AV1 is an efficient codec that requires specific hardware to encode and decode, but Google unveiled at Google I/O that Android 15 will have support for dav1d, an AV1 decoder that can decode AV1 in software at incredibly efficient speeds. It's up to three times as performant as the original AV1 decoder in Android, and enables HD playback for users who don't have hardware capable of playing AV1 natively.

An app will need to invoke dav1d specifically to use it at present, but it will be made an Android default in the future. For now, apps can choose to use it, and it'll work as far back as Android 11.

3 Other changes and improvements

They're all very minor, but they do add up

Other changes for Android 15 include the following, and these are mostly focused at developers.

• Foreground Services Changes: Android 15 introduces a 6-hour timeout for dataSync and mediaProcessing foreground services, and new requirements for starting foreground services while the app is running in the background.
• 16 KB Page Size Support: Android 15 adds support for 16 KB page sizes, which can improve performance for memory-intensive workloads. This change will become a requirement for app uploads to the Play Store next year.
• Modernizing GPU Access with ANGLE: Android 15 includes ANGLE as an optional layer for running OpenGL ES on top of Vulkan, improving compatibility and performance. Future devices will use ANGLE as the GL system driver.
• Improved Large Screen Multitasking: Users can now pin the taskbar for quick app switching and save split-screen app combinations, enhancing multitasking on large screen devices.
• Predictive Back Navigation: Predictive back navigation provides smoother, more intuitive gesture navigation, leveraging built-in animations to inform users about their actions.
• Safer Intents: Android 15 introduces new security measures for intents, requiring that they accurately match target intent-filters and have clearly defined actions to prevent vulnerabilities.

4 More devices can run Android 15

This counts, right?

Google and partner OEMs are bringing Android 15 to more devices. If you have an iQOO, Lenovo, Nothing, OnePlus, Sharp, Oppo, Realme, Tecno, Vivo, Xiaomi, or Honor smartphones, there's a chance that you'll be able to try out the new Android 15 beta on your smartphone. These smartphones are obviously limited too, and you'll need to check with individual companies to see which smartphones are included.

To be honest, we're expecting that it'll only be recent flagships from each of these companies that will support this beta release. We'll see, though!