Google introduced system-level dark mode in Android 10. Currently, most mainstream applications can follow system changes and automatically switch between light and dark modes. Users can also open the developer options in the system and enable the “override force-dark” option to force the application to dark mode.

In the Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2 update released by Google in January this year, a new “Dark All Apps” option is hidden under “Settings” > “Accessibility” > “Color & Actions”, but it does not take effect after it is enabled. .

This option also exists in Android 15 Beta 1.2 released by Google today. Although it is still not displayed by default, the related functions are already in effect.

According to the outlet’s testing, Darken All Apps uses a different forced dark algorithm under the hood to cover more apps.

The comparison results as follows:

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The “Enhanced Confirmation Mode” (ECM) dialog box is similar to the existing “Restricted Settings” (Restricted Settings). If an application installed through sideloading wants to enable accessibility features or notify the listener service, the ECM dialog box It will say: “For your security, this setting is currently unavailable”.

Note: The key difference between the “enhanced confirmation mode” in Android 15 and the “restricted settings” introduced in Android 13 is the execution method.

The “enhanced confirmation mode” in Android 15 is not distinguished based on the installation API method used, but by checking the preloaded whitelist in the factory image.

This whitelist is an XML file located in the /system/etc/sysconfig path in Android 15 that determines which packages and installers are exempt from any restrictions, while apps not on this whitelist are blocked from running by default.

Any package explicitly allowed in the XML file is considered a “trusted package” and is not subject to ECM restrictions. Likewise, any installer listed in the XML file is considered a “trusted installer,” meaning that applications they subsequently install are eligible to be exempt from ECM restrictions.

Applications installed by a “trusted installer” are not subject to ECM restrictions if they are marked as coming from a “trusted” package source (that is, not marked as PACKAGE_SOURCE_DOWNLOADED_FILE or PACKAGE_SOURCE_LOCAL_FILE).

Users who attempt to enable accessibility or notification listener services for an application will be forced to see the Enhanced Confirmation Mode dialog box if the application comes from an untrusted installer or an untrusted source.

This approach effectively closes a vulnerability in Android 13’s “Restricted Settings” feature, making it more difficult for malicious third-party applications to gain high-privilege permissions.

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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.

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NFC wireless charging was announced in May 2020, and the antenna size it uses is much smaller than Qi wireless charging. NFC wireless charging antennas can be less than 1cm in size and packaged in flexible and bendable printed circuit boards, so they can be stuffed into very small smart devices like headphones, styluses, smartwatches and trackers. Additionally, the same antenna can be used for traditional NFC data transmission, saving even more space. Many small, low-power devices such as trackers already contain NFC chips for basic data transfer, so replacing them with a single antenna for communication and charging would be very practical.

Despite being announced nearly four years ago, NFC wireless charging technology hasn’t seen much penetration. One of the reasons for this could be the lack of support for mainstream operating system platforms like Android. However, the upcoming Android 15 is gearing up to add support for NFC wireless charging, which could pave the way for a range of WLC-enabled accessories to hit the market.

Last week Google released Android 15 Beta 1, which significantly changed the operating system’s NFC module. For example, system apps that handle NFC-related events now include a class called NfcCharging that can start and stop NFC charging, read the charging information payload sent over NFC, and more.

Android 15 Beta 1 also includes new features of the operating system NFC API related to WLC that are not yet available in AOSP. Interestingly, Google first attempted to add WLC support in late 2021, nearly a year and a half after the WLC specification was first released, but later abandoned the effort. However, earlier this year, Google seemed to have renewed interest in implementing WLC support in Android.

An interesting application for NFC wireless charging is in trackers. Trackers are often too small to accommodate Qi wireless charging coils, their batteries are also small and don’t require much power to fully charge (WLC can send up to 1W of power at a distance of 2cm), and they already have an integrated NFC chip. While many trackers boast up to a year of battery life, some use non-rechargeable batteries. With integrated NFC wireless charging support, future trackers will be even easier to maintain and charge.

Another potential use case is charging a stylus. In fact, the USI 2.0 specification has NFC wireless charging built-in, so USI 2.0 styluses on the market can already be charged via NFC. But charging them still requires a compatible device that contains an NFC charging transmitter.

Once NFC wireless charging support is integrated into Android, wireless charging will become more common and applicable to small devices such as headphones, styluses, smartwatches, and trackers.

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According to reports, Android 15 is the latest platform focused on privacy and security, developer productivity, user customization, and tablet/large screen support. Google will share more at the Google I/O conference on May 14.

Starting today, users can upgrade to Android 15 Beta 1 by registering their Pixel devices. Eligible devices include:

Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro

Pixel 6a

Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro

Pixel 7a

Pixel Fold

Pixel Tablet

Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro

If your device is already running Android 14 QPR3 or Android 15 Developer Preview, it will automatically receive the OTA update for Android 15 Beta 1.

Note: Pixel 5a is not eligible for Android 15 Beta. If you currently have a Pixel 5a device registered for the Android 14 QPR3 Beta, you will receive the final stable public version of QPR3 in June.

Google says this release is suitable for development, testing, and general use. Android 15 is still under active development, so Android and the apps that run on it may not always work as expected.

Android 15 Beta 1 new features and changes:
Window border area changes

Performance profiling of application management using ProfilingManager

Inter-character text alignment options

OS-level support for archiving apps via PackageInstaller.requestArchive()

Key management changes for end-to-end encryption

wallet role

Issues fixed in Android 15 Beta 1:
Issues reported by developers
Fixed a system network issue that sometimes caused an “Adaptive Connection Service” message to be displayed.

Fixed a system issue that caused the “BAL blocked…” system message box message to appear frequently when using the device.

Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the Quick Settings function block to not render correctly.

Other issues resolved
Fixed an issue where sideloading Developer Preview 2 builds would sometimes cause the device to display a “Device is corrupted” message after sideloading completes.

Fixed an issue where the preview screen appeared to be cropped or clipped when adding a face model for Face Unlock.

Fixed an issue where users were not prompted to enter a PIN to unlock the SIM card when inserting a locked SIM card into an unlocked device.

Fixed an issue where apps that depended on runtime-enabled SDKs were uninstalled on device restart.

Fixed an issue that caused the search bar in system settings to become unresponsive when first tapped.

Fixed an issue where secondary users’ profile photos could not be changed.

Fixed an incompatibility issue between Skia and the Android 15 Preview SDK that prevented 3D mode from being enabled in the layout inspector.

Bluetooth solved issues
Bluetooth stability and pairing: We fixed multiple Bluetooth crashes and pairing failures, significantly improving connection reliability.

LE Audio and Earphone Enhancements: LE Audio connectivity and user experience have been greatly improved, including fixes for inconsistent audio routing, post-call volume issues, and pairing difficulties.

Security improvements: We fixed an important security vulnerability related to legacy pairing of Pixel 4a and Pixel 3 XL.

Bluetooth device information accuracy: We fixed multiple bugs to ensure that the pairing information and bonding type extracted are accurate.

Known issues
Android platform
When an app window transitions to Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode, the PiP window disappears if the device is rotated before the PiP transition is complete.

When setting up the device, I see a “Google Play services keeps stopping” message.

An error occurred while adding the account during device setup.

Unicode 15.1 API: The android.icu.lang.UCharacter API for Unicode 15.1 is not working properly in Developer Preview 2, but should be fully functional in Android 15 Beta 1.

Android Studio and Tools
Android 15 preview API level (VanillaIceCream) does not show up in the Preview Configuration window.

In some cases, when checking for updates in Android Studio, the latest version of the Android SDK Build-Tools that includes the Android 15 Preview SDK is not available.

When configuring a new project in Android Studio, the Android 15 Preview SDK version is not listed in the “Target SDK version” and “Minimum SDK version” drop-down menus.

Sometimes, Android Virtual Devices (AVDs) using Android 15 system images fail to launch if the AVD is launched in embedded mode.

An Android emulator issue sometimes prevents apps from being redeployed to an Android Virtual Device (AVD) after the AVD is closed.

An Android emulator issue causes hearing device accessibility shortcuts to launch multiple Settings app windows.

An issue with the Android emulator causes the notification window to flicker when typing a direct reply.

An issue with the Android emulator sometimes causes the authentication flow in the app to fail with the “Google Play services keeps stopping” message.

An Android emulator issue causes Simpleperf to crash when running a CPU profile.

An Android emulator issue causes the languages listed in the system language settings to display incorrect characters.

An issue with the Android emulator sometimes causes the QR code scanner to display a “Something went wrong” message and fail to launch.

On some Android virtual devices, the viewfinder of the Android QR code scanner is sometimes cropped or resized to a smaller size.

An issue in Android Studio causes Device Manager to temporarily stop displaying the “Missing system image…” warning message after adding or removing an SDK platform using the SDK Manager.

In some cases, an issue with the Android emulator prevents the Google Discover feed from loading.

application
“Android System Intelligence keeps stopping” message appears when creating a file in the Google Docs app.

The Google TV app sometimes fails to start video playback and instead displays the message “Play Movies & TV is temporarily unavailable.”

The post Android 15 first beta version released appeared first on TechGoing.

In the Android 13 quarterly update released by Google in late 2022, it quietly transformed Android’s desktop mode, focusing on improving window management and optimizing the display and control of multiple Android applications on the screen.

Google plans to further improve the desktop mode in the upcoming Android 15 update, adding a “handle” icon at the top of each full-screen application. After users click it, three menus will pop up, namely full screen, split screen and free mode proportion.

Once the user chooses to switch to Free Mode, the application gets a title bar showing the application name and icon, a drop-down menu to open a menu to change the window mode, a maximize button, and a close button that the user can move automatically and resize the application window.

Resizing a window temporarily hides the application’s contents so they are easier to see while the window is resized. The window can be dragged to the left or right edge, docking it to that half.

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There is a built-in timeout setting option in the Android system. By default, the phone automatically turns off the screen when it is not used for 30 seconds, and then automatically locks the screen after 5 seconds.

Users can make changes by opening Settings > Display > Screen Timeout, Settings > Security & Privacy > Device Unlock > Screen Lock Settings.

Google also introduced a “screen attention” feature on Pixel 4 phones that keeps the screen in use when the user is unable to interact.

The Android 15 DP2 update code as follows:

Code that references these strings belongs to classes under the com.google .* namespace. This indicates that the new adaptive timeout function is not one of the features of the open source version of Android (AOSP), but a new Android 15 feature developed by Google for Pixel devices.

In the code characters it reads: “Automatically turn off the screen early when you are not using the device.” However, the implementation method is not mentioned in the code. It may be to use the front camera to determine whether the user is currently using a phone.

The post Google Android 15’s New feature: Auto Screen Off for Improved User Experience appeared first on TechGoing.

The icons related to the Android 14 system status bar can be traced back to Android 5.0. Google had just launched the first version of the Material Design design language at that time. Although Google launched the third generation Material You design language in the Android 12 system, the status bar icon did not happen. Too much change.

The screenshots below show off the new status bar icon design in Android 15, including Wi-Fi signal strength, mobile data signal strength, and battery level, with support for both light and dark modes.

The picture on the left is Android 14, the picture on the right is Android 15
Google has also optimized tactile feedback in the Android 15 system. When the user long presses a quick settings tile (such as Bluetooth), the phone will vibrate as the tile expands, opening the relevant settings page. The demonstration animation is attached below:

Insert charging demonstration animation

The post Google Android 15 Will Bring Revamped Status Bar with Updated Icons for Wi-Fi, Battery, and More appeared first on TechGoing.

Google has rolled out two developer previews of Android 15 so far, giving us a glimpse of what’s coming to the stable version this fall.

According to new changes discovered by Android information digger Mishaal Rahman, Android 15 will bring a newly designed volume panel, with the adjustment slider changing from a thin strip to a thick strip, and supporting one-click muting.

▲ Android 15 volume adjustment panel

▲ Android 14 volume adjustment panel

Rahman noted that the panel will only display the media slider when there is content playing on the device, and will display all five controls when there is no media playing. There is a dot at the end of each slider that indicates the maximum volume for each option.

Additionally, he found evidence of properties like Noise Control and Spatial Audio in the redesigned volume panel, but they can’t currently be activated.

In terms of detail, the text on the volume slider subtly adjusts as the user increases or decreases the volume, ensuring that the name of the slider is always visible. Attached is an animated demonstration diagram:

The post Android 15 volume adjustment panel UI overhaul appeared first on TechGoing.

Apply operations after closing the foldable screen phone
After the Google Pixel Fold phone is upgraded to Android 15 DP2, it can continue to be used on the external screen after closing the folding screen, but this is not the default option.

The 3 options provided by Android 15 DP2 are attached as follows:

Always (new): After the user closes the folding screen, the application automatically switches to the external screen.

Swipe up to continue: After the user closes the folding screen, swipe up to continue using the app on the external screen. If no operation is performed within a few seconds, the screen will automatically lock.

Never (default): After the user closes the folding screen, the external screen is automatically locked.

Always show taskbar
Google first introduced the taskbar in Android 12L, released in March 2022, with improved multitasking and quick-launch split-screen features.

Android 13 QPR2 introduces a “transient” redesign that makes navigation elements temporary and does not take up any app space.

In Android 15 DP2, swipe up on the taskbar and press and hold to select “Always show the taskbar.”

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