The second developer preview of Google Android 15 has been released, bringing long-awaited support for satellite connections, along with several improvements to contactless payments, multi-language recognition, volume consistency, and interaction with PDFs through apps.

These developer-focused betas are a proving ground for features that will likely make their way into the final public release, scheduled for later this year. According to Google, the public beta should be available for testing between April and July.


The above is Google’s schedule for releasing Android 15, which may be officially released between August and October this year.

The latest developer preview fixes some headaches and security issues that Android users have encountered, such as making it clearer for apps why certain services may not be available when the device is using a satellite connection. Google said in a press release that the new preview version supports "pre-installed RCS applications using satellite connections to send and receive information."


Android 15 should make it clearer when satellite connectivity is enabled and may limit the functionality of certain apps.

Introduced screen recording detection support for apps, enabling them to notify users when their activity is being recorded. The reliability of one-click contactless payments has also been improved for apps that use NFC, and the multilingual audio recognition feature introduced in Android 14 has been improved to avoid users losing words when switching languages.

Small cover screens on flip phones will also become more useful as developers have direct access to more ways to interact, while support for the new CTA-2075 loudness standard will help Android users avoid inconsistent volume adjustments when switching content. Finally, Google is making "substantial improvements" to PDF functionality in the app, adding support for password-protected files, annotations, form editing, search, and copy selections.