Google launches Android 15 developer preview for Pixel device

Google is rolling out Android 15 Developer Preview 1 today. This is the ninth year that Google has provided an early look at where Android is headed before a stable launch later this year.

For the fifth year, the preview will begin in February to give developers more time to provide feedback and update apps.

There are several pillars of support for Android 15, starting with Protect user privacy and security. This includes the latest versions of Privacy Sandbox on Android and Health Connect, which contains what's new fitness, feed, and other data types. Google also mentions partial screen sharing and streaming from Android 14 QPR2.

Then there is new FileIntegrityManager With APIs that “leverage the power of Lettuce the truth Feature in the Linux kernel.

With FS-Verity, files can be… Protected with custom cryptographic signatureshelp you Make sure it is not tampered with or damaged. This enhances security and protects against potential malware or unauthorized file modifications that could compromise your app's functionality or data.

under Support creators, in-app camera controls give developers “more control over camera hardware and algorithms on supported devices.” Availability of available add-ons:

Android 15 expands global MIDI packages (UMP) Support for virtual MIDI applications to allow synthesizer applications to control synthesizer applications as a virtual MIDI 2.0 device (as if they were USB MIDI 2.0 devices).

To improve Performance and qualityGoogle's new offering Android Dynamic Performance Framework (ADPF) Capabilities. These APIs allow games and other performance-intensive applications to “interact more directly with the power and thermal systems of Android devices.” Supported Android 15 devices allow:

• a Energy efficiency mode Hints sessions to indicate that their associated threads should favor power saving over performance, which is great for long-running background workloads.
• The GPU and CPU durations can be both mentioned In hint sessions, allowing the system to adjust the CPU and GPU frequencies together to best meet workload demands.
• Thermal rise thresholds To explain potential thermal throttling based on the height forecast.

Finally, on Developer productivity On top, Android 15 adds more OpenJDK APIs, “including quality-of-life improvements around NIO Stores, Streams, protectionAnd more.”

At launch, Android 15 Developer Preview was provided System images Available for Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, and Pixel 8 Pro, as well as an Android emulator.

Once you manually install a preview build, you'll automatically get future OTA updates for all subsequent previews and betas. Read more here.

Google also warns how to:

Developer Preview 1 sideloading issue can sometimes result in a “device is damaged” message after sideloading is complete. To overcome this issue, we recommend developers to update the factory image for hardware testing whenever possible instead of sideloading the OTA system image.

If you're using Android 14 QPR3, Google recommends “Go to Developer Preview 1 now.”

Otherwise, you may experience periods of time where the Android 14 Beta build will have a newer build date which will prevent you from jumping straight into Android 15 Developer Preview without doing a data wipe.

DP1 (AP31.240119.016) with the February 2024 security patch is officially “for developers only and not intended for everyday or consumer use.” It is only available via manual download and Flashing/sideloading today, with Android Beta released to the public later in April. If you need help, here's our complete guide on installing Android 15.