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Craving some dessert? Android 15 beta 4 is here!
- Today, Google is launching Android 15 beta 4 for supported Pixel devices.
- This brings the platform to its second platform stability milestone, meaning that the APIs and other changes have been finalized, and app developers can now confidently adapt their apps for it.
- Google hasn’t mentioned when stable Android 15 will be available, but we presume it will launch alongside the Pixel 9 series on August 13.
Google does a very good job of maintaining its promised release timeline for Android 15. The first developer previews began in February 2024, and today, the company is releasing the Android 15 beta 4, the last beta release before Android 15 evolves into its stable form.
Android 15 beta is the second platform stability release, so there aren’t a ton of changes by design. We still do not recommend installing this release on your daily driver, but if you don’t mind the occasional bugs that any beta is bound to have, you can install Android 15 beta 4 on your Pixel phone to try it out.
Google says the developer APIs and all app-facing behaviors are final in this release, allowing developers to review and integrate them into their apps. Once that is done, developers have a nice headstart on testing their apps on the new platform, ensuring that their apps work well when Android 15 reaches its stable form.
Since this is a platform stability release, there are no new features here. Google mentions that with this beta, Android 15 is removing support for the legacy PNG-based emoji font file (NotoColorEmojiLegacy.ttf). With this change, some Android 15 devices, such as Pixels, will only have the vector-based file. Google explains that Android 13 had already adopted the vector-based file, while Android 14 kept it around for compatibility reasons. It is time to finally move ahead and get with the times.
Google doesn’t mention when the stable release of Android is coming. But considering that the Pixel 9 series is launching on August 13 this year and that we’re already in the platform stability phase, it wouldn’t be a stretch to presume that Android 15’s stable release also comes along at that point.