With Android 16 coming early, Google announces the last major update beta for Android 15

3 weeks ago 4

This week, Google made two big announcements regarding the Android operating system and its future. The first was a bumped-up Android 16 timeline revealed on Halloween, which has downstream effects on Android 15, the remaining betas and updates for the current version of Android.

Because Google is planning on launching Android 16 in Q2 of 2025 (April, May or June), it has reduced the number of QPR (Quarterly Performance releases) updates that are coming for Android 15. QPRs generally fix bugs and add features throughout the lifecycle of an Android version.

In this case, Android 15 QPR1's beta version is ending with a stable or public version expected to launch in December. QPR1 fixed several bugs but also introduced a redesigned Settings app and the battery charging limit, which has yet to see a regular beta release.

Google devs announced in the r/Android_beta subreddit where they also revealed that the QPR2 beta will "kick off soon." The first iteration of the QPR2 beta looks to improve stability and performance while fixing some bugs.

In the post, the developers stated that Android 15 QPR2 "builds on top of the Android 15 QPR1 platform release and includes the latest bug fixes and improvements to stability and performance."

This means that the QPR2 update, which will likely go public in March, will probably be the last major update of Android 15 before 16 launches. Presumably, Android 16 will be released during Google's annual I/O conference, which typically takes place in May. It also indicates that Google will probably release a developer beta while Android 15 QPR2 testing is running.

For those of you who enjoy getting into beta programs and testing new features but actually want access to the public QPR1 update when it arrives in December you'll need to "opt out of the program." To avoid losing data, you must ignore the downgrade OTA update and not install the QPR2 Beta 1 when it launches.

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