Forwarded from Mishaal's Android News Feed
Google has announced a LOT of new fraud and scam protection features for Android 15 and Google Play. These include:
- OTP redaction in notifications. OTPs are now hidden from untrusted notification listeners. Wearable companion apps will still be able to read OTPs, though.
- Notification, OTP, and login redaction during screen sharing. During screen sharing, private notification content, apps that post OTPs, and pages where you enter credentials will be automatically protected from remote viewers.
- Partial screen sharing. This was technically introduced on Pixel with Android 14 QPR2, but Google’s mentioning it here because it’s coming to other devices in Android 15. Coming later: A more prominent screen indicator while screen sharing.
- Expanded Restricted Settings. Google is expanding restricted settings, a feature that requires additional user approval to enable permissions when installing an app from an Internet-sideloading source (like a web browser or file manager). (I previously reported on Enhanced Confirmation Mode in Android 15; I believe Google is referring to this.)
- Cellular cipher transparency. As I previously reported, Android 15 will notify you if your cellular network connection is unencrypted which could expose SMS and voice traffic to interception. Requires OEM integration and compatible hardware.
- Identifier disclosure transparency. Android 15 will alert you if a potential false cellular base station (stingray) is recording their location using a device identifier. Requires OEM integration and compatible hardware.
- Live threat detection through Google Play Protect. This uses on-device AI to analyze behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services. Suspicious apps are sent to Google for additional review; Play Protect will then warn the user or disable the app if malicious behavior is confirmed. This feature is coming to Pixel, OPPO, Honor, Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, Transsion, Sharp, and other manufacturers.
- OTP redaction in notifications. OTPs are now hidden from untrusted notification listeners. Wearable companion apps will still be able to read OTPs, though.
- Notification, OTP, and login redaction during screen sharing. During screen sharing, private notification content, apps that post OTPs, and pages where you enter credentials will be automatically protected from remote viewers.
- Partial screen sharing. This was technically introduced on Pixel with Android 14 QPR2, but Google’s mentioning it here because it’s coming to other devices in Android 15. Coming later: A more prominent screen indicator while screen sharing.
- Expanded Restricted Settings. Google is expanding restricted settings, a feature that requires additional user approval to enable permissions when installing an app from an Internet-sideloading source (like a web browser or file manager). (I previously reported on Enhanced Confirmation Mode in Android 15; I believe Google is referring to this.)
- Cellular cipher transparency. As I previously reported, Android 15 will notify you if your cellular network connection is unencrypted which could expose SMS and voice traffic to interception. Requires OEM integration and compatible hardware.
- Identifier disclosure transparency. Android 15 will alert you if a potential false cellular base station (stingray) is recording their location using a device identifier. Requires OEM integration and compatible hardware.
- Live threat detection through Google Play Protect. This uses on-device AI to analyze behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services. Suspicious apps are sent to Google for additional review; Play Protect will then warn the user or disable the app if malicious behavior is confirmed. This feature is coming to Pixel, OPPO, Honor, Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, Transsion, Sharp, and other manufacturers.
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Forwarded from Mishaal's Android News Feed
Android 15 Beta 2 is HERE! Beta 2 brings loads of new changes and features. Here’s a summary:
- Private space is here! This feature, as I previously reported, lets users make a separate space where they can keep sensitive apps away from prying eyes. It makes a separate user profile that’s paused when the device is locked. Private space apps show up in a dedicated container in the launcher and are hidden from recents, notifications, settings, etc. when the profile is locked.
- App pairs are here! As I previously reported, Android 15 now lets you save a pair of apps to launch in split-screen mode.
- Predictive back is enabled by default! You no longer need to enable a developer option to see the system animations for back-to-home, cross-task, and cross-activity in apps that have properly migrated.
- Apps can now highlight only the most recently selected photos and videos when partial access to media permissions is granted.
- Apps targeting Android 15 can provide Remote Views to the Widget Picker so they can update the preview to be more personal/relevant.
- Health Connect adds 2 new data types: skin temperature and training plans.
- If your system language is set to French, you can now change how the OS addresses you (grammatical gender) by going to language settings.
- Android 15 Beta 2 lets apps set rich vibrations for incoming notifications by channel. This lets users distinguish between notifications by haptics.
- The animation for entering PiP mode in Android 15 is now smoother. This will benefit apps having UI elements overlaid on top of their main UI that enters PiP. Apps can now receive a callback when the PiP enter animation starts so they can quickly toggle irrelevant UI elements.
- Android 15 blocks apps that don’t match the top UID on the stack from launching activities. This is to prevent malicious apps within the same task from launching another app’s activity then overlaying themselves on top.
- New APIs to perform permission checks on content URIs.
(1/2)
- Private space is here! This feature, as I previously reported, lets users make a separate space where they can keep sensitive apps away from prying eyes. It makes a separate user profile that’s paused when the device is locked. Private space apps show up in a dedicated container in the launcher and are hidden from recents, notifications, settings, etc. when the profile is locked.
- App pairs are here! As I previously reported, Android 15 now lets you save a pair of apps to launch in split-screen mode.
- Predictive back is enabled by default! You no longer need to enable a developer option to see the system animations for back-to-home, cross-task, and cross-activity in apps that have properly migrated.
- Apps can now highlight only the most recently selected photos and videos when partial access to media permissions is granted.
- Apps targeting Android 15 can provide Remote Views to the Widget Picker so they can update the preview to be more personal/relevant.
- Health Connect adds 2 new data types: skin temperature and training plans.
- If your system language is set to French, you can now change how the OS addresses you (grammatical gender) by going to language settings.
- Android 15 Beta 2 lets apps set rich vibrations for incoming notifications by channel. This lets users distinguish between notifications by haptics.
- The animation for entering PiP mode in Android 15 is now smoother. This will benefit apps having UI elements overlaid on top of their main UI that enters PiP. Apps can now receive a callback when the PiP enter animation starts so they can quickly toggle irrelevant UI elements.
- Android 15 blocks apps that don’t match the top UID on the stack from launching activities. This is to prevent malicious apps within the same task from launching another app’s activity then overlaying themselves on top.
- New APIs to perform permission checks on content URIs.
(1/2)
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Forwarded from Mishaal's Android News Feed
- Android 15 will block users from installing apps with a target SDK version ≤ 23. Previously, Android 14 blocked apps with target SDK version ≤ 22.
- As I previously reported, Android 15 is adding support for 16 KB page sizes. Google says devices with larger page sizes can see improved performance in memory-intensive workloads. Apps with NDK libraries will likely need to be rebuilt to work on these devices.
- Android 15 includes ANGLE as an optional layer for running OpenGL ES on top of Vulkan. The move to ANGLE will standardize the Android OpenGL implementation. Going forward, ANGLE will be shipped as the default GL system driver on more new devices with the goal for GL/ES to be only available through ANGLE.
- On devices that don’t have a HW AV1 decoder, VideoLAN’s SW AV1 decoder (dav1d) can be utilized. As I previously reported, dav1d is a highly efficient and performant AV1 decoder. It’s included by default in Android 15 but is available on Android 11+ devices through a Play System Update. However, apps have to opt in by invoking dav1d by name for now.
- Improvements to the security of intents. Intents that target specific components must match the target’s intent-filter specifications. Intents without an action will no longer match any intent-filters.
- Foreground services that rely on the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission exemption for background starts are now required to have a visible overlay when targeting Android 15.
- The dataSync and mediaProcessing foreground service types now have a ~6 hour timeout after which the service is no longer considered a foreground service. If the service doesn’t stop itself, it’ll get stopped with a failure.
- Lastly, some text changes. Beta 2 includes API-related updates from ICU 74. The font file for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean is now a variable font. There’s now a font file for the Japanese Hentaigana font. TextView now allocates additional width for cursive fonts or language characters with complex shaping that may otherwise get clipped.
(2/2)
- As I previously reported, Android 15 is adding support for 16 KB page sizes. Google says devices with larger page sizes can see improved performance in memory-intensive workloads. Apps with NDK libraries will likely need to be rebuilt to work on these devices.
- Android 15 includes ANGLE as an optional layer for running OpenGL ES on top of Vulkan. The move to ANGLE will standardize the Android OpenGL implementation. Going forward, ANGLE will be shipped as the default GL system driver on more new devices with the goal for GL/ES to be only available through ANGLE.
- On devices that don’t have a HW AV1 decoder, VideoLAN’s SW AV1 decoder (dav1d) can be utilized. As I previously reported, dav1d is a highly efficient and performant AV1 decoder. It’s included by default in Android 15 but is available on Android 11+ devices through a Play System Update. However, apps have to opt in by invoking dav1d by name for now.
- Improvements to the security of intents. Intents that target specific components must match the target’s intent-filter specifications. Intents without an action will no longer match any intent-filters.
- Foreground services that rely on the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission exemption for background starts are now required to have a visible overlay when targeting Android 15.
- The dataSync and mediaProcessing foreground service types now have a ~6 hour timeout after which the service is no longer considered a foreground service. If the service doesn’t stop itself, it’ll get stopped with a failure.
- Lastly, some text changes. Beta 2 includes API-related updates from ICU 74. The font file for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean is now a variable font. There’s now a font file for the Japanese Hentaigana font. TextView now allocates additional width for cursive fonts or language characters with complex shaping that may otherwise get clipped.
(2/2)
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#GooglePhotos
Google Photos could soon let you hide all the memes you backed up from other apps
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-images-from-other-apps-clutter-control-3443931/
@GappsLeaks
Google Photos could soon let you hide all the memes you backed up from other apps
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-images-from-other-apps-clutter-control-3443931/
@GappsLeaks
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#ASI
Google's Live Caption feature could soon get customization options for emojis, and more
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-live-caption-emoji-emotional-intensity-customization-3443968/
@GappsLeaks
Google's Live Caption feature could soon get customization options for emojis, and more
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-live-caption-emoji-emotional-intensity-customization-3443968/
@GappsLeaks
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#Google
Google Wallet could soon add e-Passport support, but you're still going to need the real thing
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-wallet-e-passport-support-3444362/
US only
@GappsLeaks
Google Wallet could soon add e-Passport support, but you're still going to need the real thing
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-wallet-e-passport-support-3444362/
US only
@GappsLeaks
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#GMS #Flags
Quick Share could soon make it even easier to connect and share files
📝 Read more on AndroidAuthority
You can enable it with the following flags (root required)-
Package 📦 -
Flag 🏳️ -
@GappsLeaks
Quick Share could soon make it even easier to connect and share files
📝 Read more on AndroidAuthority
You can enable it with the following flags (root required)-
Package 📦 -
com.google.android.gms.nearbyFlag 🏳️ -
sharing_enable_qr_v3_ui@GappsLeaks
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#ChatGPT
You will soon be able to use ChatGPT instantly on mobile (without login)
Also functionality which were previously for plus/team users only are now available for free users in the app (Image uploads/browsing and more as announced previous week by OpenAI)
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/use-chatgpt-without-account-mobile-3444803/
ChatGPT apk version (beta) - 1.2024.136
@GappsLeaks
You will soon be able to use ChatGPT instantly on mobile (without login)
Also functionality which were previously for plus/team users only are now available for free users in the app (Image uploads/browsing and more as announced previous week by OpenAI)
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/use-chatgpt-without-account-mobile-3444803/
ChatGPT apk version (beta) - 1.2024.136
@GappsLeaks
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#Google
Circle to Search could gain three new features soon
Partial screenshot saving to cloud, a listen button, and a select-all-text button could soon come to Circle to Search.
Read- https://www.androidauthority.com/circle-to-search-three-new-features-teardown-3445102/
@GappsLeaks
Circle to Search could gain three new features soon
Partial screenshot saving to cloud, a listen button, and a select-all-text button could soon come to Circle to Search.
Read- https://www.androidauthority.com/circle-to-search-three-new-features-teardown-3445102/
@GappsLeaks
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#GooglePhotos
Google Photos is readying a new 'Cinematic Moment' feature (APK teardown)
The feature will automatically create slow motion snippets from videos
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-cinematic-moment-3445399/
@GappsLeaks
Google Photos is readying a new 'Cinematic Moment' feature (APK teardown)
The feature will automatically create slow motion snippets from videos
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-photos-cinematic-moment-3445399/
@GappsLeaks
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#DigitalWellbeing
Google is bringing some UI and feature changes to Android's Digital Wellbeing app
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-digital-wellbeing-ui-changes-app-limits-3445684/
@GappsLeaks
Google is bringing some UI and feature changes to Android's Digital Wellbeing app
Read - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-digital-wellbeing-ui-changes-app-limits-3445684/
@GappsLeaks
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The gemini YouTube music extension is now available to everyone - https://gemini.google.com/extensions
You can also check for it in the Google app through the "extensions" option (may not be available there for some)
Comment if you have it in the app.
@GappsLeaks
You can also check for it in the Google app through the "extensions" option (may not be available there for some)
Comment if you have it in the app.
@GappsLeaks
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#Gmail
A new Gemini button is coming to Gmail on Android
This is similar to what Google is offering on web version of workspace labs users.
Read more and check out the video on -
https://www.androidauthority.com/new-gemini-button-gmail-android-apk-teardown-3445976/
@GappsLeaks
A new Gemini button is coming to Gmail on Android
This is similar to what Google is offering on web version of workspace labs users.
Read more and check out the video on -
https://www.androidauthority.com/new-gemini-button-gmail-android-apk-teardown-3445976/
@GappsLeaks
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🥸
Won't take long to reach users ... Appeared in beta (not enabled yet) but still work in progress.
@GappsLeaks
Won't take long to reach users ... Appeared in beta (not enabled yet) but still work in progress.
@GappsLeaks
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#GooglePlayStore
Google Play Store begins highlighting apps that let you delete your account
✅ Read more on AndroidAuthority
@GappsLeaks
Google Play Store begins highlighting apps that let you delete your account
✅ Read more on AndroidAuthority
@GappsLeaks
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#ASI
In the "Now Playing" feature on Pixels, you will be able to set the default music player for detected songs. Currently you have to select one of the music apps to play the music.
@GappsLeaks
In the "Now Playing" feature on Pixels, you will be able to set the default music player for detected songs. Currently you have to select one of the music apps to play the music.
@GappsLeaks
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#Google
Google app is renaming the "Discover" tab to "Home" and adding a new tab named "Browse" which will host a bunch of pre-defined search terms.
@GappsLeaks
Google app is renaming the "Discover" tab to "Home" and adding a new tab named "Browse" which will host a bunch of pre-defined search terms.
@GappsLeaks
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