Category Archives: Android Blog

News and notes from the Android team

Reflections and resolutions for a healthier 2020

The beginning of the new year is a great time to reflect on what’s most important to you. Taking better care of yourself is a common New Year's resolution, but let’s be real—making resolutions is often easier than keeping them. One thing we know: New habits that are repeatable and achievable are the ones that end up sticking. 

At Google, we believe that great technology should improve life, not distract from it, and we’ve heard from people that their health can be impacted by their phone use. That’s why we’ve built digital wellbeing tools and features into our products to help you unplug, minimize digital distractions and focus better when using technology. In 2019, we talked to more than 100,000 people to understand their priorities. Most people told us they need free time for themselves, quality time with others and focused time for work or school. 

This year, we encourage you to reflect on the role that technology plays in your life and set resolutions for how and when you use your phone. Everyone has a unique definition of what balanced tech use looks like, so no matter what your goals are, here are some of the steps you can take to bring digital wellbeing into your life in 2020.  

Woman walking around her home, texting and using phone, getting ready for bed, turning on focus mode and grayscale features.

Free up time for yourself

  • To stop using your phone before bed (or in bed), set a bedtime schedule with Android’s Wind Down, which automatically turns on Do Not Disturb and fades the screen to Grayscale at your chosen bedtime. (Check out this video to see how it works.)

  • Double down on your sleep goals by setting up your personal routine with Google Assistant. Simply say “hey Google, bedtime,” and it can automatically put your phone on silent, adjust lights, set an alarm and tell you about your schedule for the next day. 

  • Silence your notifications on YouTube during your preferred quiet hours.

  • Schedule internet breaks on specific devices or manage screen time by pausing Wi-Fi during bedtime or dinnertime with Google WiFi. Or just ask your Google Assistant to pause the internet connection. 

Spend quality time with your VIPs 

  • To quickly silence all notifications, including phone calls, turn on Do Not Disturb. You can choose to allow calls from the people you have “starred” in your contacts list in case close family and friends need to reach you. Or, if you use the Pixel 2, 3, or 4, simply Flip to Shhh by turning your phone face down on the table to automatically enable Do Not Disturb.  

  • Set digital ground rules and screen time limits for everyone in the household (and monitor their use) with Google Family Link. You can lock a device at bedtime, or simply when you think your child needs a break. Starting with Android 10, Family Link is standard in every Android phone. 

Find focus for work or school

  • With the new Focus mode on Android, you can switch off distractions by silencing the apps that most often require your attention—like email, social media, or the news—so you can get more done in less time. Set up a recurring schedule to make it a habit. 

  • If you have a goal to reduce the time you spend on your device, try using Google Assistant. With just your voice, you can quickly send messages, ask about traffic, organize your tasks and remind yourself to call your parents.

  • To limit the number of email alerts you receive from Gmail, you can turn on high-priority notifications and only get notified when it’s important. Turn on Priority Inbox to automatically organize your emails into categories so you can quickly see the most important ones first.

  • Spend less time writing and responding to emails by using Smart Compose on Gmail. It lets you quickly draft an email by suggesting words and phrases as you write, and Smart Reply saves you time by suggesting quick responses to your messages. 

We know that digital wellbeing is extremely personal and that it doesn’t come with a one-size-fits-all solution, but hopefully these tools can help you achieve your specific goals. To learn more, visit wellbeing.google. 

Source: Android


Bringing the art of movement to the world

Rosa Mei is a professional dancer and martial artist who creates apps to teach movement: 7 Minute Chi, Meditation Moves, Taichi Temple, Gymnast Fit and Super Funky. Check out more #IMakeApps stories on g.co/play/imakeapps.

What types of apps do you make?

I make apps that teach busy people how to move and meditate. Even if you only have five minutes a day to train, you can progress. People can do moving meditation in seven minutes, learn a new dance in one minute, learn all the fundamentals of tai chi in two hours, or train like a gymnast in a rigorous 10-minute set. These short, yet high-impact training sets let people fit them into their hectic lives. They can also customize their training to what they enjoy most. 

How did you get into dance and martial arts? 

I always had too much energy and was gumby levels of flexible. My parents were engineers and really didn’t understand why I wanted to dance. I got full scholarships to study electrical engineering and Russian linguistics, but I chose dance because it fascinated me more than anything else in the universe. My mom was an IBM engineer and was so embarrassed by my career choice, she told her colleagues her daughter studied “dance law.”  I said, “What’s that, ma? Gravity?”

What eventually interested you in technology and making apps? 

Before I made apps, I worked in multimedia design for about 15 years; I’m a compulsive creator. I’m really great at making site-specific dance operas and in a sense, apps are the ultimate site-specific tool.  You can train in your kitchen while making coffee, or on top of Mount Kilimanjaro. 

How do you balance your dance and martial arts passions and your app business? 

I practice my dance and martial arts training really early in the morning and  teach classes and workshops in the evenings and on weekends. I design my apps during the day and work with additional software engineers pretty much around the clock.

What has it been like using Android and Google Play to create and distribute your apps?

Google Play is an amazing platform for developers because it really gives you complete freedom to create—and then your product gets put in front of a worldwide community. And Android devices are affordable and state-of-the-art, giving developers  a wider reach and impact.

Source: Android


Creating stargazing apps and the perfect loaf

Editor’s note: Maurizio Leo is a software engineer-turned baker, and co-founder and developer of SkyView, a stargazing app that uses your camera to identify objects in the sky. As a part of our I Make Apps series, we talk to him about developing his app, as well as his baking side hustle. 

1. Tell us about SkyView. How is it useful to people? 

SkyView is an augmented reality app we created to educate and inspire others to explore the universe no matter their location, night and day. There's a magical and exciting universe out there to explore, and SkyView's aim has always been to make exploring the sky as effortless and approachable as possible. Just point your device up to the sky and discover a new star, find a new planet, or spot the International Space Station streaking across the sky.

2. How did you get into baking?  

I grew up in an Italian household that always emphasized food made by hand. And while I went into computer science because of my curiosity surrounding computers and software, I think cooking and baking has always been a big part of my life. About ten years ago, when I was given a book on baking sourdough as a gift, I was immediately taken by the marriage of craft and science needed to bake a loaf of bread. The precision behind baking bread spoke to me, and the science behind fermentation piqued my logical side. After creating my first sourdough starter from scratch and baking my first loaf, I became obsessed.

3. How do you juggle baking and making apps in your daily life as a developer?

Working from my home office on our app SkyView allows me time between writing lines of code to hop into the kitchen and weigh, mix, or shape a batch of bread dough. It gives me an opportunity to relax my mind for a few moments or perhaps explore a possible solution, much like taking a walk would offer. Sometimes some of my best code breakthroughs were achieved when I was in the kitchen with my hands covered in flour and water! In the end, being an app developer who works at home has allowed me to simultaneously work on software I'm passionate about and explore my dedication to the craft of baking bread.

4. What are the similarities and differences between baking bread and making apps? 

At first glance, writing apps and baking sourdough bread seem a world apart—but they have more in common than one might initially think. Both pursuits benefit from a sound plan, precision, adjustment to changing inputs, and iterative improvement. Software certainly is a more analytical and tactical pursuit, while working with something tangible like bread dough satisfies more of my artistic side. For me, these two offer a delicate balance, where software lets me build imaginative structures and baking bread fulfills my desire to slow down and work with my hands. With naturally leavened bread, time is the best ingredient.

5. What has been your experience creating apps on Android & distributing them through Google Play?

We've been working with Android since the beginning (that's over ten years!), and it has always provided us with the right set of tools to help bring our ideas to reality. With modern language constructs, good editing, debugging and reporting tools, and a thoughtful testing framework, we've been able to update and release SkyView with more functionality to delight our users. And, Google Play allows us to quickly deploy our app, reaching millions of people, and keep with our mission to get as many excited about space as we are.

Source: Android


Attention holiday shoppers: Black Friday help from Google

Midnight turkey sandwiches, leftover pie for breakfast, a leisurely walk around the block—these are the ideal moments in my day after Thanksgiving. But if you’re like me and the millions of Americans who participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday every year, chances are you’re also looking out for deals ahead of the holiday season. In fact, I hear that online shopping sales are expected to growup to 18 percent this year, and smartphone use for holiday shopping is rising—increasing by 11 percent since 2017.

Good news: Google has you covered across your holiday shopping needs, from making your list, checking it twice, finding out the best deals, and keeping an eye on each package arrivals. 

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Find the best prices and places to buy

With the recently redesigned Google Shopping, you can track prices for that espresso machine you’ve been keeping your eye on (and much more). Simply find the product you want, toggle “track price,” and you’ll receive a notification by phone or email when the price of that item drops. Plus, when you buy directly on Google we’ll offset the carbon emissions created from shipping your order.

If you’re committed to shopping local or worried about the shipping deadline, Google Shopping also lets you filter for nearby products, so you can find local stores that carry what you need and see whether they have it in stock. 

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Some of our Made by Google products have Black Friday deals this year

Check out the deals on the latest tech from Google

How about some shiny new tech for your Secret Santa? Check out the Google Store for these deals (also at select U.S. retailers):

  • Say it with a (very) smart phone: From November 24th through December 2nd, get $200 off an unlocked Pixel 4 and 4XL on the Google Store.
  • Give the gift of better Wi-Fi: From November 28th through December 4th, save $40 on Nest Wifi, our newest Wi-Fi router and point which comes in three chic colors ($229).
  • Help the new homeowner, parent, or caretaker in your life: From November 28th through December 4th, get $40 off Nest Cam Indoor, Nest Cam Outdoor, and $80 off Nest Hello.
  • Bring the party with whole-home audio: From November 28th through December 4th, save $20 on Nest Mini.
  • Stay organized, connected, and inspired in the kitchen: Save $30 on Nest Hub Max—and enjoy this exclusive bread pudding recipe from Ayesha Curry on Google Assistant displays.
  • Stuff all of the stockings: From November 28th through December 4th, get $10 off Chromecast and $20 off Chromecast Ultra.

Keep track of your deliveries (and spread cheer!)

When you’re expecting more packages than usual, keeping track of each delivery can prove to be stressful. Should you stay and wait for it? What happens if you miss it? With a Nest Aware subscription Nest Hello can alert you when a package arrives, so if it’s an important item you can enlist some help from a neighbor (or, for parents, intercept it before your child discovers an early gift from Santa). 

And starting today you can get a festive Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, or wintry ringtone for your Nest Hello. Whenever someone's at your door, they’ll hear some holiday cheer—including the person delivering your packages.

Stay zen through the shopping frenzy

Remain calm, cool and collected throughout the midnight madness on Black Friday with help from the Digital Wellbeing features on your Pixel devices. 

  • Set a time limit on specific apps and sites so your day isn’t consumed by online shopping. When the timer runs out, the app or website is paused for the rest of the day. 

  • Snooze alerts that are distracting and focus on the important ones. If you use an app to track discounts and sales, you can prioritize those notifications so you don’t spend extra time wading through notifications and hunting for the deals you want. 

  • A nighttime shopping habit can interfere with your sleep. Set Wind Down mode to silence notifications from shopping apps or social media, put your screen into grayscale to signal it’s time for bed, and avoid a night of insomnia.

  • And when it is time to wake up for those midnight deals or early morning lines, try the Sunrise Alarm feature on Pixel and Pixel Stand so even in the dead of winter, you can wake up more easily with “sunshine.” 

We wish you great deals, easy shopping, and minimal stress this holiday season.

Source: Android


Top tips for keeping data safe and secure on Android

Keeping data safe and private is a key priority for Android—and we’ve built a number of features to keep your device secure and give you control. As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, here are a few of these features, and our top tips for staying safe on your phone.


Warding off sneaky phishing attacks


Video explaining phishing attacks

Phishing is when a bad actor (we’re talking criminal here, not someone with low-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes) tricks you into giving them your private information. Phishing can come in the form of a convincing email that looks like it’s from a company or co-worker you know, spam phone calls, and even text messages. 

Typically, these bad actors want to steal credit card numbers, social security numbers, or account login information (usually for financial gain or identity theft), but there may be other pieces of data they’re looking to steal.

Thankfully, you have three important features on your Android device that protect them from phishing:

  • Caller ID & Spam Protection: This shows you when a call you’re receiving may be coming from a suspected spammer.
  • Safe Browsing: This Chrome feature lets you know if you stumble across a website we know to be bad, and will help you quickly get to safety.
  • Phone-as-a-Security-Key: While other forms of on-device two-factor authentication, such as SMS one-time codes and push notifications, can be phished by a remote attacker, Android's built-in security key gives you the strongest form of Google account protection. 

Privacy controls you can depend on

Video explaining Android permissions and privacy controls.

How to protect your privacy with Android

On mobile devices, apps can access a lot of pertinent information such as contacts, web histories, location, photos, and more. This makes apps more useful—for example, helping you navigate to a desired destination in Maps—but you still want to make sure that you control who sees what. 

You can choose how their data is shared with apps and services through a number of different means:

  • Permissions: Apps have to ask you for permission to access certain types of data, like your photos or contacts. To grant or revoke permission, head to Settings > Privacy, if you are using Android 10. For Android Pie and below, head to Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > App Permissions.  
  • Location permissions: You can tell an app that it may only access your location when you’re actually using that app, as opposed to “all the time” or “never.”
  • Incognito mode in Google Maps: When you turn on Incognito mode in Maps, your Maps activity on that device, like the places you search for, won’t be saved to your Google Account and won’t be used to personalize your Maps experience.

Keeping bad apps off your device


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Bad actors also use potentially harmful applications to steal information. Google Play Protect makes sure these applications stay off your device by automatically scanning your apps to make sure everything is safe. If you do encounter one of these bad apps, Google Play Protect will quickly alert you and instruct you on how to remove the app from your device. 

You can access Google Play Protect by going to the security section of your settings. If you ever want to run a scan manually, you can prompt it to do so there. When it comes to security and privacy on Android, you’re never alone. You have both the underlying, automatic protections and the personalized control you need to keep your information safe and private. Want to learn more? Visit our Security Center today. 

Source: Android


Boxing coach uses Live Transcribe to connect with at-risk youth

Editor’s note: Anya Karir is a Toronto-based youth boxing coach who uses Google’s accessibility tools to communicate with those around her.

Isolated and alienated. That’s how I’d describe the moment I realized I was deaf. That transition, from just a kid to a deaf person, is so clear in my memory—I was three years old, standing on my balcony on a warm New Delhi evening, watching people go by, and not hearing a sound. I wondered if I was the only deaf person on Earth. I had never met anyone like me.  

My parents sent me to a deaf school where the teachers only spoke Hindi. I noticed adults using large gestures to communicate with me, and in those early years we built a unique language to communicate to one another. When they would say "water" or "milk," they would make a closed fist with a thumb out (like giving a thumbs down), but in this case the thumbs down would be toward your mouth. 

When it was time to enroll into school, there was no sign language at the time, which made it difficult for me to connect or engage with the other students. That was my “deaf” moment—the moment that all those with accessibility challenges can relate to, where you realize that you are fundamentally different. 

We ended up moving to Canada where I learned American Sign Language. The ability to communicate more freely helped those feelings of isolation slowly fade away. And, today, I’m part of a strong community of deaf people that has helped me to learn, grow and shed the feeling of loneliness. 

While I’ve become more comfortable straddling the communities of both the deaf and those who can hear, there’s still friction when it comes to engaging with those who can’t sign, relying on my cochlear implant (a surgically-implanted device that provides a sense of sound with electric signals,) lip reading or cumbersome note taking. Thankfully, technology is helping to change that. A few months ago, I started to use Google’s accessibility app “Live Transcribe,” which basically provides real time captions when someone is speaking to you. I think of it as a super accurate and personalized note taker in your phone. 

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Anya at the boxing gym

I’m a boxing coach for at-risk youth. Imagine you’re in a loud gym: thud, smack, laughter, doors opening and closing. It’s just you and a teenager, learning to communicate with each other: “Move your feet,” “improve your jab,” “take a quick break.” It would be tough enough to give and receive detailed instructions if you could hear, but bring in the loud noises interrupting conversation and it’s nearly impossible at times. In my case, Live Transcribe helps me listen to the kids in a noisy environment; it also detects ambient noises which gives me important situational context. Success in boxing is measured by one’s ability to give and receive punches and technology like this helps me truly engage in the ring so I can help these kids roll with the punches and rise to the top, inside and outside of the gym.

I look forward to seeing how technology will continue to build inclusion and nurture our community. It’s something my three-year-old self would have wanted, and something I’m excited that three year old’s of this generation will experience. 

Source: Android


If it has audio, now it can have captions

A decade ago, we added automatic captions to videos on YouTube, making online videos more accessible. However, they’re not always available on other types of content—like audio messages from your friends, trending videos on social media feeds or even the stuff you record yourself. It’s hard to enjoy that content if you forgot your headphones and can’t play the audio out loud—or if you’re one of the 466 million people in the world who are Deaf or hard of hearing, that content may be entirely inaccessible. 


That’s why we created Live Caption, an automatic captioning system that is fast and small enough to fit on a smartphone. Live Caption is helpful whether you’re on a loud commuter train, trying not to wake a baby, or want to follow along the conversation more closely. 


With the launch of Pixel 4, Live Caption is now officially available to make digital media more accessible. With a single tap, Live Caption automatically captions videos and spoken audio on your device (except phone and video calls). It happens in real time and completely on-device, so it works even if you don’t have cell data or Wi-Fi, and the captions always stay private and never leave your phone. The captions won’t get in the way of whatever you’re looking at because you can position them anywhere on the screen. If you want to see more text, simply double tap to expand the caption box.

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Live Caption wouldn’t have been possible without the Deaf and hard of hearing communities who helped guide us from the very beginning. Similar to how we designed Live Transcribe earlier this year, we developed Live Caption in collaboration with individuals from the community and partners like Gallaudet University, the world’s premier university for Deaf and hard of hearing people. An early Deaf tester, Naiajah Wilson, explained how Live Caption   would impact her daily life: “Now I don't have to wake up my mom or dad and ask what's being said.”

Today, Live Caption supports English with plans to support more languages in the near future. And while the captions may not always be perfect as it depends on the quality of the sound, we’ll continue to improve the technology over time. 


In addition to Pixel 4, Live Caption will roll out to Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL later this year, and we’re working closely with other Android phone manufacturers to make it more widely available in the coming year. 


You can learn more about our broader commitment to build for everyone on our new Android Accessibility site. 

Source: Android


10 things to know about Android 10

Android 10 is here! With this release, we focused on making your everyday life easier with features powered by on-device machine learning, as well as supporting new technologies like Foldables and 5G. At the same time, with almost 50 changes related to privacy and security, Android 10 gives you greater protection, transparency, and control over your data. This builds on top of our ongoing commitment to provide industry-leading security and privacy protections on Android. We also built new tools that empower people of all abilities, and help you find the right balance with technology.

Here are the 10 things you should know, centered on innovation, security and privacy and digital wellbeing: 

Simpler, smarter, and more helpful

1.Smart Reply now suggests actions. So when someone sends you a message with an address or a YouTube video, you can open and navigate in Google Maps or open up the video in YouTube—no copying and pasting required. And Smart Reply now works across all your favorite messaging apps.

2.Come to the dark side… with Dark Theme. You can enable Dark Theme for your entire phone or for specific apps like Photos and Calendar. It’s easier on your eyes, and your phone battery too. 

3.Take advantage of larger, edge-to-edge screens with the new gesture navigation. With simple swipes, you can go backwards, pull up the homescreen, and fluidly move between tasks. After switching, you won’t want to go back to visible buttons. 

4.With a single tap, Live Caption will automatically caption videos, podcasts and audio messages across any app—even stuff you record yourself. Live Caption will become available this fall, starting with Pixel.

New privacy and security features put you in control

5.You can choose to only share location data with apps while you’re using them. You’ll also receive reminders when an app that you are not actively using is accessing your location, so you can decide whether or not to continue sharing. 

6.In a new Privacy section under Settings, you’ll find important controls like Web & App Activity and Ad Settings in one place. 

7.With Google Play system updates, important security and privacy fixes can now be sent to your phone from Google Play, in the same way your apps update. So you get these fixes as soon as they’re available, without having to wait for a full OS update. 

Find the right balance with technology for you and your family

8.You have greater control over where and when notifications will alert you. Mark notifications as “Silent” and they won’t make noise or appear on your lockscreen, so you're only alerted by notifications when you want to be.

9.Now Family Link is part of every device running Android 9 or 10, right in settings under Digital Wellbeing. Parents can use these tools to set digital ground rules like daily screen time limits, device bedtime, time limits on specific apps, and more. They can also review the apps children install on their devices, as well as their usage.

10.Want to be in the zone but not off the grid? Digital Wellbeing now brings you Focus mode. Select the apps you find distracting—such as email or the news—and silence them until you come out of Focus mode. Sign up for the Beta to try it.

There’s lots more in Android 10, including a new enterprise feature that lets you use different keyboards for your personal and work profiles, app timers for specific websites so you can balance your time on the web, new gender-inclusive emoji, and support for direct audio streaming to hearing aid devices. 

Android 10 begins rolling out to Pixel phones today, and we’re working with our partners to launch and upgrade devices to Android 10 this year. Learn more at android.com/10.

Source: Android


With a tap on your phone, get help in an emergency

A quick, informative conversation with an operator during an emergency call is critical, but in some cases, people are unable to verbally communicate, whether they’re injured, in a dangerous situation or have a speech impairment.


Soon, you'll be able to share information about the assistance you require, along with your location, to the emergency operator without speaking. This feature will be available in the Phone app on Pixel and select Android devices.
Calling emergency without

Tapping on the “Medical,” “Fire” or “Police” buttons during an emergency call will convey the type of emergency to the operator through an automated voice service. That service works on device, which means the information stays between you and emergency services, and the service functions whether or not you have a data connection. After you activate the service, you can always speak directly to the operator as well.

Your location, which comes from your phone’s GPS, is often already shared with the operator when you make a 911 call. This new feature provides similar location information through the automated voice service, along with the caller’s plus code, which is another reliable way to help emergency services accurately locate them. Like the rest of the content shared with the operator using this feature, your  location stays between them and emergency services. 

This feature will become available in the U.S. over the coming months, starting with Pixel phones. We’ve been collecting feedback from public safety organizations, including the National Emergency Number Association, to make this feature as helpful as possible, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with the emergency services community to make people safer.

Source: Android


With Sound Amplifier, more people can hear clearly

For the 466 million people in the world who have hearing loss, the inability to hear a conversation or the sounds around you can be isolating. Without clear sound, it’s challenging to connect to the people around you and fully experience the world. And simply asking others to speak louder (or turn up the TV volume) isn’t a helpful solution because people hear more clearly at different audio frequencies.

Sound Amplifier is an Android Accessibility app that helps people hear more clearly, and now it’s available on Android devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above. Using machine learning, we sorted through thousands of publicly available hearing studies and data to understand how people hear in different environments and created a few simple controls.

Here’s how it works: When you plug in your headphones and use Sound Amplifier, you can customize frequencies to augment important sound, like the voices of the people you are with, and filter out background noise. It can help you hear conversations in noisy restaurants more clearly, amplify the sound coming from TV at personalized frequency levels without bothering others, or boost the voices of presenters at a lecture.

For some people, it may be hard to know when Sound Amplifier is detecting or enhancing sound. So we added an audio visualization feature that shows when sound is detected, helping you visualize the changes you’re making to it. Like a volume number on your TV, you know how much the sound is boosted even if you can’t hear it yet. There are a couple of new visual updates, too. You can launch the app directly from your phone’s home screen instead of tapping into Accessibility settings, and with the reorganized the control settings, you can easily tap between boosting your sound or filtering out the background noise.


Sound Amplifier v2

Caption: Sound Amplifier has a new look and feel with an audio visualization feature.

Sound Amplifier is the latest step in our commitment to make audio clear and accessible for everyone. And we’ll continue to improve the app through new features that enhance sound for all types of hearing.


Download the Sound Amplifier app on Google Play today on your Android device to enhance the sound around you.

Source: Android