Key Takeaways
- Icon pack support in Android 15 would be a huge change – finally some customization for everyone!
- The Google Assistant might soon be replaced by Gemini, a fully conversational assistant.
- Hoping for a desktop mode in Android 15 for Pixel devices – a laptop in your pocket would be amazing!
Android 15 is just around the corner, and we expect it to launch alongside the Google Pixel 9 series. We’ve gone through several developer previews and betas at this point, meaning that most of the features that will arrive in the final version are already here at this point. However, there are some that will undoubtedly be unveiled alongside the Pixel 9 series, as Google also likes to release Pixel-exclusive features at the full launch.
Android updates have been boring for a little while now, though Android 15 has some great stuff in the pipeline, especially Privacy Space. These are some of the features we’d absolutely love to see, either on Pixel smartphones or in Android 15 in general. Boring isn’t a bad thing, but it’s always exciting to get some new stuff!
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1 Native icon pack support
Icon packs across the entire system
A feature that has been in custom ROMs for years and years at this point, it would be great to finally have universal icon pack support throughout the operating system. Countless other smartphones have this feature, where an icon pack can be enabled to replace all versions of an icon for an app throughout the system, but Android itself doesn’t support it.
Icon packs in general aren’t supported on Google Pixel smartphones with the default launcher, and the best you’ll get are the Material You-themed icons that can be enabled on a per-app basis by developers. Give us icon pack support, Google!
Best icon packs for Android in 2023
Pick one of these icon packs for your Android launcher and start customizing the look of your home screen.
2 Full Gemini replacement for the Google Assistant
The Google Assistant is on its way out, anyway
Google has been pushing the capabilities of Gemini for quite a while now, and there are already a ton of Gemini-powered features on Google Pixel smartphones that you can use today. It seems the writing is on the wall for the Google Assistant, and I’d say a replacement is imminent. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a fully conversational Gemini (like GPT-4o) unveiled alongside Android 15 for Google Pixel smartphones, especially given the strides Google has been making recently.
This has its downsides, though. Google will need to make sure that basic commands like setting timers still work without invoking the Gemini element of the Assistant. However, combining both features into one should be possible if the big G does it right. Plus, you could even have things like web page summarization and note summarization handled by the system with some extra AI smarts, just like Samsung did with the Galaxy S24 series.
3 Desktop mode
The Pixel 8 series supports display out, but it doesn’t have a desktop mode
You can finally output a Pixel 8 to a display over USB-C, but it still doesn’t have a proper desktop mode like other devices do. It’s not as if Android doesn’t have an official desktop mode either; Android Authority reports that there are changes happening under the hood for Android’s desktop mode, possibly even in preparation for an official debut with Android 15.
Desktop mode is great because it means you can turn your phone into a laptop that you carry around in your pocket. It’s not for everyone, but it can work in a pinch if you have a dock or other way to output your phone to a display. I’m hopeful that Android 15 will bring it to Google Pixels in the future, just so that it’s yet another option I can fall back on if I really need it.
4 Allow us to remove the gesture hint bar
Everyone else lets you
The bar at the bottom of the screen on a Google Pixel lets you know that gestures are enabled, and it’ll react to your movements and swipes as you use your phone. However, most OEMs actually let you disable this feature, but for some reason, Google doesn’t. It’s a super minor feature, but if you know how gestures work, it can be annoying to see it overlayed on everything you do on your smartphone.
In terms of priority of features to add to Android 15, this is definitely one of the lowest I would say on my list. People have been asking for it though, and I can see why.
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An age-old feature that we’d love to see return
Old Android versions used to have lock screen widgets, but they were later removed in Android 5.0 Lollipop alongside the first Material Design redesign of Android. We’d love to see them return in Android 15, especially given that there are plenty of good widgets out there that could benefit from a lock-screen addition. Even something as simple as Spotify could be useful.
NothingOS actually has lock-screen widgets on the company’s Nothing phones, so it’s not out of the question that we could see it in the future. Apple also has an equivalent now too, so maybe it’s high time that Google adds back a feature it removed a decade ago.
Most Android 15 features have already been announced
Most of the Android 15 features we expect to make it to other devices have already been announced, so it’s unlikely that most (or even any of these) will end up on Android 15 devices in general. However, I’m holding out on hope that some of these features will make their way to the final Pixel build of Android, which typically has its own suite of features and goodies to play with. In fact, some of those may make it to older Android versions too.
We’ll be waiting to see what gets unveiled when Android 15 arrives, but for now, there are still a ton of other features to get excited about when it comes to the latest and greatest version of the world’s biggest operating system.