Android 15 prepares revamped status bar with new icons and haptics

Thanks to the first two developer previews, we already have a good idea about what new features the upcoming Android 15 update may bring to the table. While it’s likely that Android 15 will bring a lot of new, useful features, it’s unlikely that it’ll also bring major UI changes. That’s not to say there won’t be any UI changes, though, as we previously reported that Android 15 may revamp the volume panel. In addition, we can now report that Google is working on revamping the status bar icons as well as adding haptic feedback to more parts of the system.

The status bar is one of the most recognizable parts of the Android OS, and its design hasn’t significantly changed over the years. It’s the UI element at the top of the screen that displays icons for various information. While the position of some status bar elements has shifted over the years to accommodate changes in phone design, the basic design of most status bar icons hasn’t changed in years. The icons for Wi-Fi signal strength, mobile data signal strength, and battery in Android 14 look very, very similar to the icons from Android 5.0 Lollipop released in 2014, if you can believe it.