Android 15 Said to Upgrade the Volume Panel Design and Add New Features

Android 15 could bring a major design revamp to the volume panel, as per a new report. The launch of the next iteration of the operating system for Android smartphones is still months away, but some of its new features have already been leaked. Recently, a report claimed that users will be able to archive an app in Android 15 to save space on their smartphone instead of uninstalling it entirely. Now, another report claims that the volume panel could finally be brought up to Google's Material You design language.

According to a report by tipster Mishaal Rahman (via Android Authority), Android 15 could continue the process of bringing all the areas of the smartphone to the Material You standards. The new design language was first unveiled in 2021 with Android 12, and since then Google has been adding it to different apps and functionalities. As per the report, the volume panel is the latest to feature its elements.

The current volume panel already has some of its elements with a bottom sheet appearing when the volume button is pressed. However, the current design features thin sliders for Media, Call, Ring, Notification, and Alarm audio streams. There is also a header labelled Sound & vibration and icons that are placed next to the slider, and the name of the stream being placed above the slider.

Android 15 volume panel
Photo Credit: Mishaal Rahman/Android Authority

As per the report, the redesigned volume panel changes the sliders quite a bit. These were spotted within the latest Android 15 Developer Preview 2 release, however, they have not been rolled out to beta testers. The new sliders are now thicker and are pill-shaped. The icon and the audio stream text are placed inside the slider, and there is a button next to the media slider that collapses the entire panel to a single row when tapped. Tapping it again opens the fully expanded view.

Based on the image shared, the top label is also gone, and it is replaced by a permanent audio output switcher icon. The icon remains present even when the audio is not being played through an external speaker and states that the audio is being played through the device itself. The report also highlighted that when adjusting a stream volume, the text also moves to always stay visible. The redesigned volume panel could be shipped with the stable Android 15 release, however, since Google has not officially added it to the OS so far, it is not written in stone.