Android 15 Developer Preview 2 is OFFICIAL! Google has just announced the release on the Android Developers blog. Here’s what Google says is new in Android 15 DP2:

- Android 15 DP2 adds some UI elements to ensure a “consistent user experience” for devices that support satellite connectivity. The update also expands platform support for satellite connectivity by adding a new ServiceState.isUsingNonTerrestrialNetwork() API that apps can use to detect when a device is connected to a satellite. Android 15 also lets SMS/MMS/RCS apps use satellite connectivity for sending and receiving messages.

- Android 15 is adding a property (WindowManager#COMPAT_SMALL_COVER_SCREEN_OPT_IN) that developers can use to show their Application or Activity on the small cover screen of a clamshell foldable phone (AKA a “flippable” device). Since these screens are too small for most apps, you need to opt in to support them. Plus, this only works on flippable devices that add support for this feature.

- Android 15 lets apps detect when they’re being recorded! Apps can use WindowManager’s addScreenRecordingCallback(...) API to receive a callback when they transition between being visible or invisible in a screen recording. This lets apps that are performing sensitive operations inform the user that they’re being recorded. Notably, this expands on the screenshot detection API introduced in Android 14.

- The PdfRenderer API is getting a lot of improvements in Android 15! The API now lets apps add advanced features like rendering password-protected files, annotations, form editing, searching, and selection with copy. Linearized PDF optimizations are supported to speed up local viewing and reduce resource use. Google is moving PdfRenderer to a Mainline module that can be updated via Play System Updates. On Android 11+, the PdfRendererPreV API provides a backported version of these changes.

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- Android 15 is updating the NFC stack to add a new “observe mode.” Observe mode lets devices listen but not respond to NFC readers. On supported devices, apps can request the NfcAdapter to enter observe mode so they then get PollingFrame objects to process. Apps can read PollingFrame objects to auth ahead of the first communication to the NFC reader, which allows for a one tap transaction to be made.

- Android 15 gives apps control over the HDR headroom with the Window#setDesiredHdrHeadroom. This lets apps decide how to strike a balance between SDR and HDR content. This is useful for when a mix of SDR and HDR content is shown on screen, as letting the OS decide can end up adversely influencing the perceived brightness of the SDR content.

- Android 15 supports the CTA-2075 standard which helps users avoid audio loudness inconsistencies and ensure they don’t have to constantly adjust volume when switching content. The system uses known characteristics of output devices and the loudness metadata available in AAC audio content to intelligently adjust audio loudness and dynamic range compression levels. Devs need to ensure loudness metadata is available in their AAC content and also enable the platform feature in their app.

- Android 15 expands the AutomaticZenRules API which lets apps customize Do Not Disturb rules and decide when to toggle them. The new version lets apps add types, an icon, a triggerDescription string, and ZenDeviceEffects that enable rules to trigger on things like grayscale display, night mode, or wallpaper dimming.

- Android 15 adds granular line break controls to TextView so apps can preserve a given portion of text in the same line to improve readability. Devs can take advantage of this by using the <nobreak> tag in string resources or by using LineBreakConfigSpan#createNoBreakSpan(). It’s also possible to preserve words from being hyphenated by using the <nohyphen> or by using LineBreakConfigSpan#createNoHyphenationSpan().

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