Unlike Spotify, not all music streaming platforms include built-in social listening features. So, in such situations, there’s now another way for users to share the audio they’re listening to with everyone else in a group when they are together or travelling.
Auracast
is a feature of the
Bluetooth LE Audio
standard that solves this problem. This feature enables broadcasting audio to nearby devices using
Bluetooth Low Energy
without pairing them.
However, for this feature to work, the broadcaster and receiver devices need to support Auracast.
Google is reportedly planning to include this feature that will help
Android
users to share their music with their friends on the go.
It is important to note that the Auracast technology was announced over a year and a half ago. Yet, there still aren’t many headsets on the market that support it. However, that could change soon, as many accessory makers are going to launch new products that support Auracast. Also, most smartphones that are being released support the features.
Auracast on Android 15: How it may work
According to a report by Android Authority, Google is planning to add a dedicated “audio sharing” page in Android 15. This feature will allow users to share or connect to nearby
LE Audio
streams.
Multiple strings related to the audio-sharing feature were discovered within the Settings app of the Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 release. These strings suggest that the page is expected to include different toggles to share audio, scan a QR code to connect to a nearby audio stream, change which Bluetooth device to listen with and a section that will list nearby audio streams.
This new audio streams page is likely to appear under Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences. This feature is already available on some
Samsung
phones and Google’s latest Tensor-powered smartphones also support it. With Android 15, this feature may become available on Android smartphones from other brands as well.
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