Blog

Following the platform’s stability last month, Android 15 Beta 4 is rolling out today to Pixel devices. This is officially an almost final build and the “last planned update” of this review cycle.

The OTA images will officially “be available for download later today.”

…so make sure your apps are ready and you’ve given us any critical feedback before non-beta users start getting Android 15.

As the second platform stability release, “developer APIs and all application-facing behaviors are final.” Google may still release 4.x patches in the coming weeks.

One thing app developers should be aware of is how Android 15 removes the legacy PNG-based emoji font file (NotoColorEmojiLegacy.ttf). In Android 13, Google switched to a vector-based file, but kept the old approach for compatibility reasons. Moving forward:

…some Android 15 devices like the Pixel will only have a vector based file.

The following issues have been fixed in Beta 4:

Issues reported by developers

• Fixed a contrast issue that made some items in the quick settings tiles hard to read. (Issue #340944691)
• Fixed an issue that in some rare cases caused some Pixel devices to get stuck in an unbootable state if the device was factory reset shortly after installing an OTA system update. (Issue #349860641, Issue #349978813)

Other fixed issues

• Fixed an issue where an Android Virtual Device (AVD) using an Android 15 system image sometimes failed to start if the AVD was started in embedded mode.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused app notification settings to fail to restore when restoring a device from a backup.
• Fixed an issue for Pixel Fold devices that prevented the user from continuing Face Unlock recording if the device was folded or unfolded during the process.
• Fixed various other issues affecting system stability, connectivity, performance, usability, and camera.

Bluetooth solved the problems

• Fixed a bug that prevented the Digital Car Key app from performing a low-latency scan when running in the foreground.
• Fixed using custom UUIDs instead of standard HOGP service UUID in Android head tracking service.
• Use the head tracking codec capabilities to discover transport support in the LE Audio stack.
• A fix has been made to prevent Bluetooth pairing requests from being rejected immediately when there is a mismatch between the transport offered by the API and the transport seen by the Bluetooth stack, potentially improving the pairing success rate.

Already known issues:

Android platform

• When an application window transitions to picture-in-picture (PiP) mode, the PiP window disappears if the device is rotated before the PiP transition is complete.
• An error page is displayed when adding an account during device setup.

Android Studio and Tools

• The Android 15 preview API level (VanillaIceCream) is not showing up in the preview configuration window.
• In some cases, when checking for updates in Android Studio, the latest version of the Android SDK Build-Tools, which includes the Android 15 Preview SDK, is not available.
• While configuring a new project in Android Studio, the Android 15 Preview SDK version is not listed in the Target SDK Version and Min SDK Version dropdowns.
• Sometimes an Android Virtual Device (AVD) using an Android 15 system image fails to start if the AVD is started in embedded mode.
• An issue with the Android emulator sometimes prevents an app from being redirected to an Android virtual device (AVD) after the AVD is closed.
• An issue with the Android emulator causes the hearing aid accessibility shortcut to launch multiple settings app windows.
• An issue with the Android emulator causes the notification window to flash while typing a direct reply.
• An issue with the Android emulator sometimes causes authentication flows in apps to fail and display a “Google Play Services keeps stopping” message.
• An issue with the Android emulator causes Simpleperf to crash when running a CPU profile.
• An issue with the Android emulator causes languages ​​listed in the system language settings to display incorrect characters.
• An issue with the Android emulator sometimes causes the QR code scanner to display a “Something went wrong” message and fail to launch.
• An issue with Android Studio causes the Device Manager to temporarily stop displaying “Missing System Image…” warning messages after adding or removing an SDK platform using the SDK Manager.
• An issue with the Android emulator prevents the Google Discover feed from loading in some cases.

Applications

• “Android System Intelligence has stopped” message appears while creating a file in the Google Docs app.
• The Google TV app sometimes fails to initiate video playback and instead displays a “Play Movies & TV is temporarily unavailable” message.

On the Pixel, you can leave feedback via Android Beta Feedback. Access it from the app drawer or through the quick settings tile to log bugs in Google’s issue tracker. There is also an Android Beta community on Reddit.

Android 15 Beta 4 (AP31.240617.009) with the July 2024 security patch is available for Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 8a, as well as the Android emulator. Most people will install through the Android beta program, but you can also flash or sideload.

If you need help, here’s our complete guide to installing Android 15.

• Pixel 8a: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 8 Pro: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 8: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel Tablet: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel Fold: Factory Image — OTA
• Pixel 7a: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 7 Pro: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 7: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 6a: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 6 Pro: Factory Image – OTA
• Pixel 6: Factory Image – OTA