Android 15
No More OTP Worries! Android 15 Puts a Wall Around Your Sensitive Notifications
Privacy and security are the primary things that every Android user asks for. And fortunately, Android 15 will bring dedicated features for enhancing the user’s security experience.
Usually, to add an extra layer of security, users should use a passcode or enable two-factor authentication (2FA). Whereas some forms of 2FA are more secure as compared to others, Now the reports are saying that Android 15 might be adding a new feature that prevents OTPs from being read by malicious Android applications.
As per the reports digging through the Android 14 QPR3 Beta 1 update, the addition of a new permission named RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS. This permission has a high protection level of role signature, which means that it can only be granted to applications along with the essential requirement role or to applications that the OEM signs.
However, the brand has not officially mentioned the exact role that grants the permission, and it is expected that Google doesn’t intend to open this permission up to third-party applications. The report says that this is an API that permits the application to read or take action on all notifications. Users need to manually grant application permission in Settings even before the NotificationListenerService API becomes available.
The reporters mentioned that they don’t know exactly what an “untrusted” app refers to, but it may be any application that does not hold the new RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS permission. It is expected that this permission would apply to select system apps. It is also not clear yet what kind of notification stands “sensitive” as per the prospect of Google, but there’s a reason to believe they are referring to notifications with 2FA codes.
As per the reports, while digging through the source code for Android 14, a new flag named OTP_REDACTION came to be known, which is used to gate “redaction of OTP notifications on the lock screen.” Also, Android will have three ways to protect users from leaking their 2FA codes to third parties. The OTP_REDACTION flag suggests that Android will stop users from leaking their 2FA codes on the lock screen, whereas the RECEIVE_SENSITIVE_NOTIFICATIONS permission suggests that Android will stop untrusted applications from reading notifications along with 2FA codes.
Google’s next major iteration, Android 15, is actively in the developing stage and is expected to stop phones from vibrating while getting a lot of notifications.
Google has recently made Android 15 Beta 1.2 available to download, which has brought some crucial improvements. Now reports are revealing that Android 15 will bring new functionality to enhance the users’ experience, which will force the phone to stop vibrating while getting a lot of notifications.
Android 15’s notification cooldown reduces the volume of repeated notifications from the same application. However, at the moment, it doesn’t stop the phone from vibrating for each notification. However, we anticipate a future update to address this issue.
Speculation suggests that the reporter, while exploring the latest Android 15 Beta 1.2 update, successfully restored the notification cooldown settings page (Settings >> Notifications >> Notification cooldown), which Google had previously hidden from users in Android 15 Beta 1. According to the reports, a new toggle has been added that was previously unavailable: “vibrate when unlocked.” According to the description, this toggle makes it so the device will “only vibrate when [the] screen is unlocked.”
By authorizing this toggle, the phone will avoid vibrating while receiving a ton of successive notifications from the same application. Notification cooldown silences Android 15 repeated notifications from a similar application, but it is possible that it could still vibrate your phone for each one. Apart from this, there’s an option to disable vibration only when your phone is unlocked.
Users will get the power to enable “vibrate when unlocked” for peace and silence. They can disable both “vibrate when unlocked” and notification cooldown entirely to receive all notifications with vibration. Users can change the cooldown to apply only to conversations if they want silence for repetitive chats but notifications for other applications.r
Google is actively preparing for its upcoming version, as demonstrated by the availability of Android 15 Beta 1.2 for download just a few days after the release of Beta 1.1. We anticipate that the stable version of Android 15 will allow you to force apps to go dark, even if they don’t support the feature.
The metrics for 2022 suggest that 81.9% of readers use dark mode on their phones. Google offers support for a system-wide dark mode toggle in Android 14. Despite all of this, some of the applications still don’t have a dark theme, such as the ones from Fitbit or Amazon Shopping, but now the Android 15 update will overcome this lack and let you force these apps to go dark, even if they don’t have a built-in dark theme.
Back in January, Google hid a new’make all apps dark’ toggle under Settings >> Accessibility >> Color and Motion in the Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2. This toggle was not visible by default in Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2, and it was not even visible in Android 15 Beta 1.2.
According to reports, testing revealed that’make all apps dark’ outperforms ‘override force-dark’ in more applications, implying that the current developer opt-out is no longer functional and that the fundamental force-dark algorithm has changed. Android is introducing ‘make all apps dark’, a new accessibility setting that enhances the existing ‘override force-dark’ option and distinguishes itself from color inversion, which causes image distortion.
Currently, Android 15 Beta 1.2 lacks the’make all apps dark’ feature, but Google I/O 2024 next month could see the introduction of this feature in Android 15 Beta 2.
Google has started developing its next big iteration, Android 15. To prepare it for the Android device, the company has already started rolling out the beta updates. Earlier this month, the company rolled out the beta 1 update, which introduced a plethora of new features. However, being a beta update, it comes with a lot of bugs, so to fix them, it introduced the next beta 1.1 update, which fixed a crucial NFC bug. Now that it has brought a new update in the form of the beta 1.2 update, it is also coming with a lot of new bug fixes.
What’s new with the Android 15 beta 1.2 update?
Google has officially announced that the company will roll out the new Android 15 beta 2.1 update, which will provide several new fixes related to the freeze display, fix a system performance issue, resolve a system setting crash when trying to add a fingerprint, and many more. Check out the official changelog below.
Android 15 beta 1.2 update changelog
This minor update to Android 15 Beta 1 includes the following fixes:
- I fixed an issue that sometimes caused apps to freeze and display an “Application Not Responding” message. (Issue #328865524)
- Fixed a system performance issue that caused excessive battery drain in some cases. (Issue #335718464, Issue #335188185)
- Fixed an issue that caused the system Settings app to crash when trying to add a fingerprint. (Issue #334035378, Issue #335481930)
- Fixed an issue that prevented the system back gesture from working in some cases. (Issue #331303569, Issue #334738577)
- Fixed an issue that could cause the screen to flicker repeatedly. (Issue #325555461)
The latest beta update is now live for all the eligible Pixel devices; more specifically, it has started rolling out to the Pixel 6 or nearby devices. The latest update is coming with the firmware version number AP31.240322.027. The latest update is coming with the same April 2024 security patch that has already arrived with previous updates. To check for the new version, you just need to go to the system settings, select software update, touch the system update, and tap the check for updates button. You may have to tap the button more than once to trigger the download, but if all this fails, then you can also manually install the update via official factory image files.