Pixel 8a might miss Android 15’s audio sharing feature

If you want to privately share what you’re listening to with nearby friends or family, you typically need a complex wiring setup with splitters or for everyone to have the same brand of device. That’s because most Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices and wireless headsets don’t also support the standard’s LE audio streaming feature, which standardizes how devices stream audio to one or more nearby devices via Bluetooth Low Energy.

While the best Android phones on the market already support LE Audio and are theoretically capable of supporting its streaming feature, it’s possible that not all LE Audio-enabled devices will get streaming support. Take Google’s Pixel 8a and Pixel 7 series, for example. While these devices support LE Audio streaming (sending audio via Bluetooth LE to a single headset), they’re about to lose LE Audio streaming support, according to a report Android Authority analysis.

Earlier this year, we shared a first look at one of the most exciting new features in Android 15, called Bluetooth Audio Sharing. Audio Sharing is Google’s name for Bluetooth LE Audio streaming, which is Auracast, as marketed by the Bluetooth SIG. Android 15’s Audio Sharing page makes it easy for users to start or connect to an Auracast stream, but it’s only available on devices that support LE Audio streams. To test the feature, I had to manually enable LE Audio streaming support on my Pixel 8 Pro as well as Android 15’s Audio Sharing feature. Then, I started a stream on my Pixel 8 Pro and connected to it using a few of my Auracast-enabled Samsung devices.

Enabling LE audio streaming support on my Pixel 8 Pro was pretty straightforward, as the firmware support was already present. In fact, all I had to do was set two system properties: bluetooth.profile.bap.broadcast.assist.enabled And bluetooth.profile.bap.broadcast.source.enabled — to true for LE Audio streaming support. These system properties enable the Basic Audio Profile (BAP) streaming helper role and the source role, respectively. The helper role allows devices to discover and connect to Auracast streams, while the source role allows devices to transmit Auracast streams.

Neither system property is enabled by default on any Pixel device at the moment, including the Pixel 8 Pro. However, if you compile an Android build for the Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro using RELEASE_PIXEL_BROADCAST_ENABLED If you add the “flag” option, these two system properties are automatically added and enabled. It is worth noting that the device makefile for the Pixel 8a does not contain the conditional statement that inserts these system properties. This does not mean that it cannot be added later, but it is curious that it is only missing for the Pixel 8a and not for the Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro.

To clarify, I reached out to a few sources if they had any additional information to confirm whether this was intentional or if it would be added in the future. One source shared that they had seen evidence suggesting that Google intended to reserve LE Audio streaming support for “core phones” in the Pixel lineup, which suggests that it’s intentionally being held back for the Pixel 8a. I’ve reached out to Google to see if they could comment and will update this article with that statement if I hear back.

The Pixel 8a’s lack of support for Bluetooth LE audio streaming would be disappointing but ultimately unsurprising. After all, this wouldn’t be the first audio feature reserved for Google’s premium phones, as spatial audio is notably absent from all of the Pixel A-series. Speaking of which, you can clearly see in the Pixel 8a’s make file that while the spatial audio library is included, the system property that declares the device supports spatial audio is missing, unlike the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro.

Device build files are a great way to define which files and properties to include in an Android build. The fact that there’s no mention of the required LE Audio streaming properties in the Pixel 8a build file, then, suggests that the feature won’t be available on the device. Hopefully, that won’t be the case when Android 15’s audio sharing feature eventually rolls out, as it would be a shame if only the Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and Pixel 9 series supported the feature. Unfortunately, it’s possible that the Pixel 7 series won’t support the feature either, as their build files don’t declare any LE Audio streaming properties. Similarly, the Pixel 6 series definitely won’t support the feature, as it doesn’t even support Bluetooth LE Audio.