Google dropped the second Android 15 beta at Google I/O 2024, and it didn’t take long for eagle-eyed testers to discover a host of useful Android 15 features hidden inside, including one that could streamline your phone’s storage page .
In Android 14, system storage appears as its own category above Apps, Pictures, Audio, and other storage categories. Tapping this option will inform you that “System (storage) contains files used to run Android version 14”, which is a rather useless message as it does not reveal the share of system files that are taking up storage space for other reasons takes possession.
The latest Android 15 beta fixes this useless problem by turning system storage into a header and splitting its contents into two categories: Android 14 (i.e. core operating system files) and temporary system files. In other words, Android users could soon get more clarity on how much of their phone’s internal storage is Actually is taken over by the core operating system.
This small but important change was first noticed by an Android Authority contributor Mishaal Rahmanwho shared an image of the new Android storage format on X:
Under Settings > Storage in Android 15 Beta 2, there is no longer a ‘System’ option. Instead, there is a ‘System’ header that splits into the ‘OS’ and ‘temporary system files’. This can reduce some of the confusion about how much space system files take up. Unrecognized files will… pic.twitter.com/gVnEg3tXqIMay 15, 2024
As noted in a special Android Authority In an article on the matter, this Android 15 storage tweak is reminiscent of Samsung’s recent changes to the presentation of storage in the top Samsung phones (before 2023, storage pages on Samsung phones were similarly useless).
The news of this new beta feature of Android 15 comes just a few months after another storage-related feature was spotted in the first beta version of Android 15. Called Device Diagnostics, this new feature can check the health of your phone’s built-in storage, allowing you are warned about the risk of losing files or not running out of usable space when you need it most. Device Diagnostics can also give you a percentage of how much of your internal storage is still usable.
It’s worth remembering that both of these new storage features were discovered in beta versions of Android 15, so there’s no guarantee they’ll make it to the final Android 15 release. That said, we’d be incredibly surprised if such small, but useful changes were to be jettisoned.
For more Android 15-related news, visit our dedicated Android 15 hub, which has an overview of all the rumored Android 15 features.