Google’s latest Android 15 Beta 2 release brought a slew of anticipated features, but the real surprise was the quiet return of the cast volume controls for speaker groups for Pixel users. You might recall that this feature was abruptly stripped away a few years ago due to a legal case with Sonos, but now, according to Android Authority, Pixel users will soon be able to easily control the volume of speaker groups again.
Speaker groups, for those unfamiliar, allow for multiple Google Home or Nest Audio speakers to work harmoniously, filling your home or office with music while cleverly adjusting for audio delays. To create a group, just go into the Google Home app, group your speakers together, and then you’re able to cast to that group simultaneously from any cast-enabled app, like Spotify or YouTube Music. From there, it would make sense that you could jump around to other apps and use the phone volume buttons to control the music, right? If you own any other Android phone outside of the Pixel family, this is the case but a lawsuit between Google and Sonos has made things a bit messy for anyone using Google-made phones.
Going all the way back to 2020, Google and Sonos have been battling in court over patent infringement. And because of this legal dispute, Google made the decision to remove several features including the unified volume control for speaker groups on their Pixel phones in 2022.
But thankfully, some of Sonos’ patent wins were overturned in late 2023, paving the way for Google to restore the lost functionality including the ability to add speakers, displays, and Chromecasts to multiple speaker groups. But, for whatever reason, they never brought back the group volume controls for Pixel users, that is until this latest Beta version of Android 15 appears to have restored this feature for Pixel users.
While Android 15’s typical release timeline suggests a year-long wait, the return of group volume control in the beta gives me hope that we will get this beloved feature back sooner rather than later. This is one of those features that you don’t realize how much you love until it’s gone, so I’ll be patiently awaiting this one to fully roll out.
