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Google Finally Adds Support for Bluetooth In-Band Ringtones with Android 8.0
After 8 years, Google finally adds support for an in-band ringtone in Android O. Now your ringtones can play on your connected Bluetooth headset or car!
With every new major Android version update comes a slew of new features. Android O, Google's upcoming software release, most notably brings support for notification channels, picture-in-picture mode, autofill managers, and background limitations on apps. But as with any new major version release, there are a bunch of under-the-hood changes that are much less publicized. One such change finally adds a Bluetooth related feature that users have been requesting for many years now - in-band ringing. The feature is a part of the Bluetooth Hands-Free Profile (HFP) and it allows your phone to send its custom ringtone to the connected Bluetooth device. Thus with an in-band ringtone you no longer have to hear whatever default beeping noise your Bluetooth device makes when you receive a phone call.
Adapticons Brings Android O's Adaptive Icons to Android 5.0+
A new application called Adapticons brings Android O's new Adaptive Icon feature to any Android 5.0+ device. Get custom icons on your phone or tablet!
When Google announced Android O, they talked about a feature that will help bring uniformity to the icons on your smartphone or tablet. They're calling it Adaptive Icons and it's similar to what we've seen from multiple OEM skins in the past. Some like this feature of using icon masking to make their application icons look similar, but others dislike it and disable it immediately if they can. Now a new application called Adapticons brings this type of functionality to Android 5.0+ devices. With this application, you can set custom icons for your home screen based on a lot of different styles.
Hide Quick Settings Tiles on the Lock Screen Automatically [App]
An app to hide quick settings tiles on the lock screen. Disable sensitive tiles such as WiFi, Airplane Mode, Location, and more on the lock screen!
Google introduced Quick Settings tiles to Android with Android 5.0 Lollipop (though it should be noted that this feature was available on Samsung phones before it made its way to AOSP). With Quick Settings, users can access many useful system toggles such as a WiFi, Bluetooth, Location, GPS, or Sound toggle without having to navigate through the Settings app. And with the Quick Settings Tiles API introduced in Android 7.0 Nougat, developers can even add their own custom tiles. When creating a new tile, developers can specify whether or not the tile can be toggled directly from the lock screen, but many default tiles do not implement this feature. If you are looking for a way to disable or hide quick settings tiles on the lock screen, I've made a simple, free app that you can use to do just that.
Bluetooth Battery Level Indicators are Finally Coming to Android
Bluetooth battery level indicators may finally come to stock Android so Google, Motorola, and Sony devices can get the battery level of connected devices.
A really useful feature for those of us with Bluetooth headsets and other devices is finally making its way to AOSP: Bluetooth battery level indicators. This means that users of Google, Motorola, Sony, and other devices with near-stock Android software should be able to tell the battery level of their Bluetooth connected devices without the need of a third-party application. There's no telling exactly how this Bluetooth battery level indicator will appear in its final state, but the existence of this new API in AOSP means that developers can implement Bluetooth battery indicators however they like.
How to Hide the Persistent Notification for Background Apps in Android O
Tutorial on hiding the persistent notification in Android O that shows when a background app is running or when an overlay is showing.
Android O is looking to bring major enhancements to the Android OS we all know and love. Picture-in-picture mode for phones, notification channels, smart text selection, autofill services, and under the hood many, many changes to enhance your battery life, performance, and security. One feature that is supposed to help users sort out issues with battery life and performance is background process limitations. Without going into too much detail, apps in Android O can no longer be woken from their manifest-registered implicit broadcast receivers and they can no longer start background services without going through JobScheduler. If an app wants to start a background service, it must explicitly tell the user that it is doing so by posting a notification. However, when an app is running in the background, Android O now seemingly tacks on another persistent notification telling you what apps are running. This also occurs when an app with the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission (such as the popular Twilight app) is currently displaying an overlay.
Latest WhatsApp Beta Supports PiP Video Calls in Android O
WhatsApp Beta is introducing Picture-in-Picture calls for Android O users, allowing you to leave the app and video chat through a floating window!
Android O is chockfull of new features, and one of the most useful ones is Picture-in-Picture (PiP) functionality. PiP allows videos to play over your screen while using other apps or playing games, and the latest app to add support for this feature is WhatsApp.
How to Freeze Any App's Background Processes without Root on Android 7.0+
This tutorial shows you how to freeze any app's background processes on Android 7.0 and 7.1 Nougat without root by using a hidden ADB command.
Android has always been considered the more "powerful" mobile platform when compared to iOS because of how much freedom its 3rd-party applications have. This enables a lot of automation to take place simply because Android applications can do more tasks while they're running in the background. However, this comes with a downside as it opens the door for potentially more battery drain thanks to background processes running on the device.
Google Won't Add Support for aptX on the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P
According to a comment on the Google Issue Tracker, the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P will not officially support Qualcomm's aptX Bluetooth audio codec.
With Android O, Google added support for more Bluetooth audio codecs such as Sony's LDAC as well as Qualcomm's aptX and aptX HD to enable high-quality bluetooth audio streaming on supported devices.
Android 7.1+ has a "Panic Detection" Mode that Detects Frantic Back Button Presses
Android Nougat (7.1+) has a panic detection mode that detects if the user is frantically pressing the back button. Read more to hear what it does.
While many readers of Android-centric websites such as our own are less likely to come across situations where a rogue application compromises their system, the same may not be true for the general population. Nearly every week we hear from various security researchers about new malware targeting Android users. Most of these malicious attacks can be avoided by inspecting permissions or avoiding installing sketchy-looking applications, and while we do recommend our readers take their phone's security into their own hands, Google is responsible for securing every Android phone. To that end, the company quietly introduced a new security feature in Android 7.1 Nougat called "panic detection" which listens for multiple back button presses in succession then returns the user to their home screen.
Android O Introducing an Animated Clock Icon, Soon Available in Custom Launchers
Check out this animated clock icon coming to custom launchers, thanks to the Clock app packaged in Google's latest launcher.
Google might be about to launch a new feature in Android O -- Chris Lacy, who is the author of highly regarded Action Launcher, discovered that the Clock application would have an animated icon in launchers.
Despite Removal, You Can Still Customize Nav Bar & Lockscreen in Android O DP3 -- Here's How
Android O Developer Preview 3 removes nav bar and lockscreen shortcut customization; here's how you can still customize them.
The Android O Developer Preview has now reached its third release, meaning the final APIs are ready and Google is readying up for an imminent and proximate release with only minor bug fixes to be expected in the remaining Developer Preview. With previous Android O previews, we saw tons of refinements to the user interface as well as some additional customization features, some of which were likely being tested and might not be available in later releases.
XDA Senior Recognized Developer Chainfire has announced that SuperSU is being updated to version 2.82. The latest app should be available on the Google Play Store already to most users, as the roll out began last week.
During the Android Fireside Chat that took place at Google I/O 2017, a nice new feature was discussed. It was revealed that users of Android O will be able to update their graphics drivers through the Play Store. This might be one of the most exciting features of the upcoming Android.
Android O Redesigns Emojis - Get Them Now on Android 5.0+
Google has redesigned the list of available emojis in Android O. Here's a look at what's new. Also, we've got a flashable zip available!
During our earlier coverage of what is new in the first public Android O Beta release (Android O Developer Preview 2), some users noted that we had forgotten to mention the new emojis. No, we didn't forget about our little blob friends. We wanted to wait so you can get your hands on the new, more round emojis right now!
Google May Finally Enable Custom Themes Built on Sony's RRO Framework
The Android O Developer Preview has a mysterious display theme setting. XDA has concluded that this theming framework is based on Sony's RRO.
In case you aren't already aware, Google has released the second Android O Developer Preview (Android O DP2) during yesterday's I/O event. We've already done a deep dive into everything new we've found thus far, but there was one thing about DP2 that was bugging me. Everyone who received the beta update or manually flashed the new images were quickly met with a radically different UI in quick settings. Why in the world did Google decide to change the theme? After some more testing and digging, I've come to a conclusion. For whatever reason, Google has decided to make its "Inverted" theme the default theme; perhaps while the company was in the middle of testing a custom theming solution based on Sony's Runtime Resource Overlay (RRO), they weren't able to get the default Pixel theme working in time for the Android O Beta release.
Here's Everything New in Android O Developer Preview 2
A comprehensive look at all of the changes we've found in Android O Developer Preview 2. Includes changes to the Pixel Launcher and many UI changes.
It's that time of year again. Google's yearly I/O developer conference is like Christmas for Android enthusiasts. Every year the company bombards us with news related to everything Google has been working on in recent months. We've been extensively covering all the latest news from this year's I/O, but one thing we haven't gotten around to until after today's keynote event was over was trying out the latest Android O beta release. But it's been a few hours since Android O's Beta Program has been live, and Google has even posted flashable images for anyone on compatible devices to try. We've now taken an in-depth look at Android O Developer Preview 2, and we're ready to share what we've found.
Android Go Optimizes Android O to Run on Low-End Devices
Today Google has announced Android Go - an optimized version of Android O that is aimed at low-end hardware with 1 GB or less of RAM.
While most of us drool over the latest features introduced in Android O, there are a huge amount of users whose devices simply are unable to run the latest version. The vast majority of Android devices sold across the world are not flagship devices, but low-to-mid range phones aimed at users on a budget. For those users, it's essential that the software they run be optimized for all users. Since Google just announced that Android has reached over 2 billion active users, continuing to optimize the software will let them reach an additional billion users. That's why Google is introducing Android Go, a modified version of Android O that optimizes the software to run on low-end devices.
While we still don't have an official name for Android O, Google is still rolling out testing versions of the next major version of Android. Our first taste of Android O came in the form of a Developer Preview, but today Google has announced that the Android O Beta Program is live for users to sign up for.
Google's Project Treble Modularizes Android so OEMs can Update Devices Faster
Today, Google has announced Project Treble, a project that modularizes Android so OEMs can serve Android updates more quickly.
One of the major criticisms of Android is fragmentation of software updates. To this day, many devices have to wait several months after their Google device counterparts just to receive the next major version of Android. For instance, Android Nougat was officially released in August of last year, but it has taken OEMs months on end to roll out Android 7.X to their users. As of this month, only approximately 7% of all Android devices are running Android Nougat. In an effort to combat the lengthy period of time between releasing new versions of Android and OEMs updating their devices, Google has announced the biggest change to the low-level system architecture of Android to date - Project Treble.
The Android Nougat Beta Program is officially shut down. Google decided that all users of the current Beta Program will get an update notification to the latest version of Android N. Finally, the program's site website has been closed as well. The closure is a part of Google's bigger update plan, as the Android O Developer Preview 2 is expected to be released soon.