App archiving, partial screen sharing and other new Android 15 features worth looking at

Android 15 is on its way to your smartphone (probably) very soon. But what makes this version of Android stand out from its predecessors? As it turns out, quite a bit. It’s not going to revolutionize smartphones, but there’s a lot here I like. So let’s discuss some of the more noteworthy new features you’re getting with Google’s latest mobile operating system.

App archiving

One of the big new features is app archiving. Though it’s been present on iOS for a few years now, app archiving is finally making its way to Android on a system level. Through archiving you can free up storage space on your phone without getting rid of the app data. The system keeps an “archived APK”, ready to restore your app from the App Store or Play Store whenever you need it.

Hidden apps

This is something that’s been present on Android for ages via custom skins and third party apps. As someone who’s used budget Chinese phones, I’ve found their OS skins to have this feature as well. Android 15’s implementation is pretty much the same: a separate space hidden away under an extra layer of authentication.

Private apps are paused when this space is closed and notifications are hidden as well. One good change I can spot is that hidden apps won’t show up in Settings either, something most custom skins forget to implement.

Predictive back gestures

Predictive back gestures are a quality of life change that you only miss once you’ve used it, in my opinion. What it does is show users a preview of what their gesture is about to do, like going back to a previous menu or exiting the app to the home screen.

Low light camera boost

This isn’t an upgrade to Night Mode for your camera. What this does is provide users with real-time enhanced previews in low light conditions, allowing them to better frame a photo they’re about to take. It also helps in scanning QR codes in darker areas. For capturing still images, Night Mode will still provide a better end result.

16 KB page size support

Another option that’s been available on iPhone for a few years now, 16 KB page sizes offer improved performance over the traditional 4 KB page sizes. With support for 16 KB pages sizes coming to Android you can expect smoother and faster performance in the future.

An in-built song identifier

A really neat little feature coming with Android 15 will allow you to identify songs playing in public or on your phone without third party apps. Simply activate the ‘Circle to Search’ feature and tap the music button. Yeah, ‘Circle to Search’ works for more than just identifying a pair of trousers in an image.

Partial screen sharing and recording

A privacy-focused feature, this will allow you to only share or record a particular app window instead of your entire screen, kind of like Discord. Furthermore, login details in apps will be automatically hidden, which is very welcome.

Smart audio control

Have you ever had that moment where you put in your earphones midway through a video and suddenly blast away your eardrums? No more! Android 15 will intelligently compare different audio outputs to ensure a consistent volume when switching from one to the other.

There are tons of other changes coming too, many of which are going to make the lives of Android developers much easier. And there are tons of small behind the scenes improvements that will keep you safer and your data more secure.

I just wanted to list some of the new features that caught my eye. Because I think we all know Google is just going to keep on talking about Gemini every chance it gets. Especially now that Mark Gurman has called Apple Intelligence underwhelming compared to Gemini.