Android 15 Beta 2 brings a revamped, collapsible volume panel

Android 15 just received its newest release, Beta 2. App developers and enthusiasts can install Android 15 Beta 2 on their Pixel devices to test their apps. If you can live with an older build, you can install Android 15 beta on other OEM devices, too. On the Pixels, the latest Beta 2 brings a revamped, collapsible volume panel, marking a big UI change.

We’ve reported on Android 15’s revamped volume panel before. The code for the feature was present in Android 15 Developer Preview 2, but we had to activate it manually. As Mishaal Rahman notes, the revamped panel is standard on the Beta 2, and you can access it with your phone’s volume buttons.

As you can see, the basic volume slider remains the same. However, the expanded volume panel that is accessed after pressing the three-dot button is different. Older builds had an expanded volume panel that looked rather disjointed, while the newer builds have thicker, pill-shaped sliders. Of course, you can slide the slider to change volume, but you can also click on the extreme left of any pill to mute that stream or on the extreme right to raise the stream to maximum volume. This expanded volume panel also collapses, and you can do that by pressing the button next to the media stream.

Helpfully, the expanded volume panel now includes a persistent media output shortcut, which remains present there irrespective of the media playback state. There are also new animations, with the stream name text moving with the slider.

How do you like the new volume panels on Android 15 Beta 2? Let us know in the comments below!