The upcoming Android 15 system may introduce a new feature: application isolation. This feature will better protect users from misbehaving apps.
The Android system has always had a strong security protection mechanism to resist malicious applications. The Google Play Store’s security protection service “Play Protect” will also automatically remove detected malicious apps. However, no security software is perfect, and misjudgments may occur. “Play Protect” usually takes a cautious approach and will ask users whether to remove suspicious apps when they encounter them. In order to help users better deal with suspicious applications, the “App Isolation” feature that may be added to Android 15 may provide a better solution.
Users familiar with antivirus software for desktop operating systems such as Windows may be familiar with the concept of “quarantine.” When antivirus software quarantines a file, it’s usually because it suspects malicious behavior in the file, but because it can’t delete the file or has doubts about the file’s malicious nature, it leaves the decision up to the user. Quarantined files are isolated from the rest of the system and cannot be executed, ensuring that potential malware cannot do its evil.
There is no application isolation function in the traditional sense in the Android system, mainly because Android has focused on system security from the beginning. Android apps cannot gain system-level access and are by default in a sandbox environment, communicating with other apps only through predefined APIs that can only be accessed with explicit permission. Because of these limitations, users basically don’t need to download third-party antivirus or anti-malware software for Android devices. Because Android’s operating mechanism is different from Windows, Android’s app isolation feature is also slightly different from Windows.
How does app isolation work in Android 15?
When an app is quarantined in Android 15, it will behave differently than a normal app. It will still appear on the user’s home screen and Android settings, but with some restrictions:
Notifications for quarantined apps will not be displayed
All windows will be hidden and running activities will be stopped
Unable to control device ringtone
Other apps cannot query its services (but can query its activity)
Cannot bind to or receive broadcasts from the system or other apps
cannot be parsed
It is noticed that judging from these restrictions, isolated applications are similar to disabled applications, but they can still appear on the home screen. At the same time, “App Isolation” is somewhat similar to the “Pause Application” function in the “Digital Health” service, but the isolation function can restrict the components of a single application. All in all, App Isolation is somewhere between disabling apps and suspending apps.
However, it is unclear when Google will officially launch this new feature. Evidence of app isolation was first spotted in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1 last November, but the developer pages for quarantined apps have now been removed. While the feature flag to enable OS-level app isolation still exists, currently users cannot manually isolate apps, even from the command line. Additionally, neither the Google Play Store nor Google Mobile Services apps currently request quarantine app permissions. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that this feature won’t launch in Android 15 and may be delayed to a future version.
