Holding your focus and attention at work can sometimes be a challenge, but Android offers helpful tools so that you can reduce distractions and get work done on your own terms. Whether it’s news alerts, social media, or other apps you find distracting, Focus mode lets you pause apps that could keep you from tackling those important tasks. The work profile also clearly labels work apps in a separate tab, so you can quickly access the important ones you need to get your job done.

Get in the zone with Focus mode

Use Focus mode to pause apps in your personal profile that you find distracting.

Once you turn on Focus mode, the apps you chose will be grayed out on your screen and their notifications will be hidden. Also, any notifications from those apps are put on hold until Focus mode is turned off.

To suit your work hours, you can create a daily schedule with Focus mode so it launches automatically during the time period you specify. If you’re on a lunch break or need to check any of the paused apps, you can take a break from Focus mode to use those apps for a short period.  When the break’s over, Focus mode resumes automatically so those apps won’t bother you.

Work profile organizes the apps you need

On personally enabled devices, the work profile helps you quickly get to the apps you need. When it’s time to step away from work, you can pause the work profile—work apps will be unavailable and won’t send you any notifications until they’re back on.

Focus mode and work profile are among the many ways that Android works the way you want. Learn more about what Android can do for you at work.

Technology should be there to assist you at work by solving problems in new ways. Android is built to be helpful with smart features that speed up everyday tasks and make work more accessible. From better communication tools to time-saving tricks, here are some of the ways that Android can help you be more productive. 

Faster dialing with Click to Call

Need to make a call while working from your laptop? Instead of awkwardly glancing back and forth between your computer and phone to punch in the number, which can easily lead to a misdial, Click to Call does all the work at once.

With Click to Call, you can send a phone number from the Chrome browser on your computer to your Android phone. Just right-click on the number, select your Android device from the menu, and this will send a push notification to your phone. Then tap the notification and the  dial button to start the call. Make sure you’re signed in to sync on both devices.

Save time with Smart Reply

In Android 10, Smart Reply gives recommended actions based on the content of a message you receive. For example, if a colleague sends you the address of a client meeting, Android will pull up directions in Google Maps. Or if you receive a Hangouts Chat message with a link to a Google Doc, you can open it directly and start editing. Smart Reply works in messaging apps like Hangouts Chat, Messages, and many third-party apps such as Signal.

Enhance communication with speech to text apps

Live Transcribe and Live Caption help you capture and follow conversations, presentations, or meetings. As part of Android’s accessibility suite of tools, Live Transcribe captions speech in real time on screen and, if you choose to, saves the transcriptions on your device for up to three days. The app can help the deaf people and people with hearing loss more easily participate in conversations. Additionally, for business meetings it can provide clarity in communicating when one or more of the participants are not native speakers to the language used in the conversation.

Live Transcribe is available in the Play Store for all devices Android 5.0 and up. On Pixel 3 and Pixel 4 devices, the service can be enabled from the accessibility settings.

Live Caption, introduced in Android 10, automatically captions any media playing in real time on your device, even if you’re offline. It’s helpful for situations where you need to catch a company presentation or webinar, but it’s not convenient to play the audio because you don’t have headphones on you. Live Caption gives deaf people and people with hearing loss another accessibility tool for following along with a video conference or company presentation.

Live Caption is available on Pixel 3, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 4 devices running Android 10, and is coming to the Galaxy S20.

These are among the many ways Android is here to help and strives to provide new solutions for everything you need to get done throughout the day. Learn more about how Android is ready for work and transforming how businesses get things done.

Just because people use their phones at work, doesn’t mean they should have to sacrifice their privacy. Since Android 5.0, the work profile has helped ensure personal data remains private from IT even when employees bring their device to work, while giving IT the tools they need to secure corporate data. 

But when given a phone by their company, employees don’t always know what IT can and can’t see. That’s a challenge for employees who want to keep their personal data private; in a recent survey of workers by ESG Research last year, 71% said they expect any personal information to remain private on work devices.

What’s coming in Android 11

In Android 11, enhancements to the work profile mean IT can confidently extend the same privacy protections to a company-owned device that people have come to expect from the work profile on a personally-owned device. 

For IT professionals, new asset management and device-level controls for the work profile can manage and restrict personal use to ensure company assets are compliant with corporate policies. Now in Android 11, IT will have additional control over what the employee can do on the personal side of the device, while not having visibility into how they choose to use the device within those admin-defined restrictions. 

For example, IT can ensure employees can’t install video streaming apps that would consume large amounts of company-subsidized cellular data. On the other hand, IT will not have visibility into which of the permitted applications employees choose to install and use. 

For employees, this means they can get the full privacy protections from the work profile on company-owned devices, restricting IT visibility into their personal apps and data.

All of this is accomplished without compromise to the integrity of company data. The strong boundary between work and personal data established by the work profile’s architecture, combined with Android’s extensive set of management and security features, ensures that IT has full control and visibility over where their work data can go. 

Upgrading user privacy

To enable this functionality as quickly and easily as possible, Android will automatically migrate work profile on fully managed devices to the improved work profile experience when devices upgrade to Android 11. Work profiles on fully managed devices will not be supported for either existing devices that upgrade to, or new activations on, Android 11. Other devices currently configured with work profiles are unaffected by these changes.

If you currently deploy Android Enterprise and have questions about how your Android 10 devices may be affected, please contact your EMM partner for more information.

Want to learn more?

Learn more about this and other new Android 11 features on the Developer Preview 1 site, and download a system image for Pixel 2, 3, 3a, and 4 now.

Just because people use their phones at work, doesn’t mean they should have to sacrifice their privacy. Since Android 5.0, the work profile has helped ensure personal data remains private from IT even when employees bring their device to work, while giving IT the tools they need to secure corporate data. 

But when given a phone by their company, employees don’t always know what IT can and can’t see. That’s a challenge for employees who want to keep their personal data private; in a recent survey of workers by ESG Research last year, 71% said they expect any personal information to remain private on work devices.

What’s coming in Android 11

In Android 11, enhancements to the work profile mean IT can confidently extend the same privacy protections to a company-owned device that people have come to expect from the work profile on a personally-owned device. 

For IT professionals, new asset management and device-level controls for the work profile can manage and restrict personal use to ensure company assets are compliant with corporate policies. Now in Android 11, IT will have additional control over what the employee can do on the personal side of the device, while not having visibility into how they choose to use the device within those admin-defined restrictions. 

For example, IT can ensure employees can’t install video streaming apps that would consume large amounts of company-subsidized cellular data. On the other hand, IT will not have visibility into which of the permitted applications employees choose to install and use. 

For employees, this means they can get the full privacy protections from the work profile on company-owned devices, restricting IT visibility into their personal apps and data.

All of this is accomplished without compromise to the integrity of company data. The strong boundary between work and personal data established by the work profile’s architecture, combined with Android’s extensive set of management and security features, ensures that IT has full control and visibility over where their work data can go. 

Upgrading user privacy

To enable this functionality as quickly and easily as possible, Android will automatically migrate work profile on fully managed devices to the improved work profile experience when devices upgrade to Android 11. Work profiles on fully managed devices will not be supported for either existing devices that upgrade to, or new activations on, Android 11. Other devices currently configured with work profiles are unaffected by these changes.

If you currently deploy Android Enterprise and have questions about how your Android 10 devices may be affected, please contact your EMM partner for more information.

Want to learn more?

Learn more about this and other new Android 11 features on the Developer Preview 1 site, and download a system image for Pixel 2, 3, 3a, and 4 now.

Enterprises regularly contend with evolving security threats. Their mobile devices and operating systems must create trust so IT teams, managers, and employees have confidence that their information is backed by strong security measures.

To assist our enterprise partners and customers with accurate and timely information about the Android approach to security, we’ve published a new update to the Android Enterprise Security Whitepaper. This document serves as a comprehensive overview of how Android enables best-in-class security by using multi-layered protections, Google-powered artificial intelligence and the collective contributions of the wider community.

The newest edition of this whitepaper includes the latest Android 10 security enhancements, which make Android even more secure and helpful for businesses. Learn about how Android has made it simpler to distribute updates and security patches through Google Play System updates, new VPN capabilities, and how Google Play Protect works to help protect enterprise devices. Android 10 also has a number of improvements that provide better security and privacy for employees, whether they are bringing their own devices to work or using ones issued by their employer. 

Additionally, the paper outlines key updates to the personal and corporate data separation of the Android work profile; details on device and profile management; and how the Android team continues to enhance and extend our defenses with initiatives like the Android Security Rewards program and the App Defense Alliance.

We recently shared how Android 10 delivers an abundance of helpful features for enterprises. Today, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the new security and privacy features in Android 10, which give IT admins new tools and protections to help keep their device fleets prepared against the latest threats.

Updatability enhancements

Getting reliable security updates is critical for enterprises, who want the latest protections for their devices. Android 10 introduced Google Play system updates, building on the work of Project Mainline, which focused on a simpler and faster method to deliver updates to the Android ecosystem. Many essential components like media codecs, time zone data, DNS resolver, and Conscrypt are now modularized, enabling them to be updated through Google Play. 

Google Play system updates can be delivered more directly and uniformly across the ecosystem, as vulnerabilities can be patched from Google Play without a full operating system update.

Our security efforts are regularly evolving to better meet ecosystem needs. For example, the 2015 Stagefright vulnerability accelerated patching security vulnerabilities across different device makers with our monthly security updates program. This has led to substantial progress in ecosystem security. Google Play system updates create a stronger framework for quickly and comprehensively addressing future vulnerabilities. We can accelerate the delivery of a patch and make the update available through Google Play, giving greater consistency to the whole ecosystem.

Strengthening data protections

Protecting data in transit and on the device are essential elements to mobile security in an enterprise setting. In Android 10, we added support for TLS 1.3 and made it the default, but TLS 1.2 is still supported.  TLS 1.3 protects more of the handshake process and can be up to 40 percent faster than previous versions.  With better encryption, it enhances the protection of device identities and removes some obsolete and less secure features.

TLS 1.3 removes support for weaker cryptographic algorithms and uses a newly-designed handshake that fixes a number of weaknesses in TLS 1.2. Additionally, it no longer supports certificates that use SHA-1 hash algorithms.

Storage encryption is also critical to enterprise security. All Android 10 devices are required to encrypt user data. While most devices achieve this through the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Android 10 uses a new encryption mode called Adiantum, which expands encryption to a wider range of hardware, such as devices with lower-end ARM processors that do not support AES extensions.

Safeguarding app installs with Google Play

Google Play uses a number of tools to deter the installation of malicious apps on devices. Application signing validates that an app has been properly signed by the developer, which indicates it has been submitted unmodified for installation on Android devices. 

Android 10 supports the latest APK signature scheme, which better secures apps against malicious activity. Together with Google Play Protect, Android 10 continues our efforts in applying best-in-class data and device protection.

We recently showcased how banks around the world are using Android to work more productively, while maintaining the rigorous security standards required in the financial services industry. One use case where Android helped enable remote working was for personal “Bring Your Own” devices (BYOD). 

At Jefferies, an investment bank based in New York City, 85 percent of their work devices are employee-owned. It’s essential that bankers are able to access corporate apps and data on the go, and the Android work profile has been key to enabling the Android BYODs across the organization.

Jefferies has evolved its mobile strategy to focus on empowering employees to be able to access and use essential internal resources and web apps, and connect in real-time with rich collaboration services. This requirement was critical as senior bankers frequently travel yet still require access to in-house finance systems while away from the office. Transitioning to Android Enterprise enabled the BYOD fleet with single sign-on (SSO) to secure access to corporate resources and achieve a high level of employee efficiency.

Android Enterprise’s work profile allowed Jefferies to enable and connect their global workforce through a BYOD program. “The Android work profile means we can provide secure access to corporate data and apps for the large number of our employees who use their personal devices at work,” says Mittul Mehta, vice president, platform security engineering at Jefferies.

Being able to offer a BYOD strategy has given employees flexibility and choice, and for Jefferies has helped increase user adoption and reduced the training demands on the IT department. IT has seen further efficiencies from a quicker onboarding process (requiring only minutes to set up the device), to fewer tickets submitted by users.

Jefferies uses the managed Google Play store to distribute both web and native apps to its employees. When it comes to accessing legacy apps, Android Enterprise works alongside a solution from Hypergate that provides on-premise SSO authentication to Jefferies’ Windows authentication infrastructure. This allows Jefferies to support a hybrid cloud environment and ensure that the user experience is seamless; employees can use the native Google Chrome app on Android to securely access internal websites wherever they are in the world.

Jefferies’ success with Android has been demonstrable. “[Users are now able to] complete their work on their phone in a fast, effective and secure way,” Mehta says, “while getting reassurance that the work profile data separation means that their personal data stays private.” You can learn more about how Android benefits your organization’s employees at the Android for employees website.

Android 10 is officially available, and it delivers a wealth of helpful features to employees and more security and control for IT. 

This release not only marks the 10th version of Android, but also highlights our strong, sustained investment in enterprise features going back to Android 5.0 with the introduction of the work profile and many other management tools.

While we’ve accomplished a lot since then to make Android even more secure and powerful for businesses, we know our work is never done. In Android 10, we’ve focused on being even more helpful and useful for employees, enabling them to work smarter on their terms. And we’ve worked on giving IT more trust and assurance for whatever use case suits their business needs.

More privacy for employees

We’re providing employees more flexibility and privacy when using a corporate-owned device. Organizations can now provision company-owned devices into work profile mode using zero-touch enrollment or other enrollment methods, so employees can enjoy even more privacy when using their work device for personal reasons and IT admins have one consistent way of managing across company-owned and BYOD devices.

Android 10 also offers a new privacy section in settings, so employees can see all their web, app, and ad setting controls in one place. There are also more fine-grained controls for location data so employees can give an app access to location only when the app is in use. 

Making work easier for employees...

The newest version of Android provides even more tools to make everyday tasks easier, like the expansion of smart replies in all app notifications so any business application can offer default suggestions for replies and actions. With Live Caption, a new system-level tool that captions any video on your device, employees can follow along with video conference calls and live business presentations without missing a word.  

Employees on a work profile device can also choose their favorite input method for their personal profile while IT can still mandate a specific keyboard for the work profile. Compatible calendar apps can also show work events alongside personal events so employees can see everything in one view. 

With Focus mode, currently in beta, employees have a great tool to tune out distractions and concentrate on getting work done. This is a great companion to Turn Off Work, for disconnecting from work apps on nights, weekends or holidays. 

...And for IT

We previously gave organizations the ability to freeze device updatesfor up to 90 days. In Android 10, admins can now push system updates manually from a file, so they can schedule them when devices are idle or to save network bandwidth. There’s also a new feedback channel for apps, so admins can see the status of managed configurations and get confirmation that settings have been applied.

New for Android 10, Project Mainline makes it easier to update core OS components in a way that's similar to how apps are updated: through Google Play. With this approach, selected Android components are updated faster without needing a full over-the-air update from the device manufacturer. As a result, IT organizations enjoy more seamless security and privacy fixes and consistency improvements across their device fleets without a lot of extra work. 

Raising the bar on security

Android 10 features more than 50 security and privacy improvements that benefit both IT organizations and employees. Some of the enterprise features include the ability to block the installation of apps on the personal side via unknown sources on devices with a work profile, to reduce the risk of malware. IT can also set a private DNS server on a fully managed device and require DNS over TLS to avoid leaking URL queries.

With the deprecation of Device Admin for enterprise use in Android 10, apps will get new tools to check the quality of screen lock credentials. For example, an email app can query the complexity level of the device screen lock and direct users to create a stronger password if the security policy isn’t met. 

Other improvements include enabling TLS 1.3, a more secure and private networking protocol, by default and additional platform hardening efforts to make any vulnerabilities much more difficult to exploit. For more information on Android 10 security improvements check out the Google security blog. 

Get started with 10

Android 10 is available starting today on Pixel phones and we’re working with a number of partners to launch or upgrade devices to Android 10 this year. For more information on the Android 10 enterprise features, visit our developer page.

Android zero-touch enrollment simplifies mobile deployment of corporate-owned Android devices, making large-scale rollouts faster, simpler and more secure. With zero-touch enrollment, administrators can configure devices online and ship them with management, apps, and specific configurations already in place—so employees can open the box and get started right away.

Our partners are an important part of how we grow zero-touch worldwide. We’ve added more than 100 new partnerships this year, empowering their customers with the benefits of a streamlined and secure mobile rollout. 

Customers are able to deliver large scale roll-outs quickly, with less friction and greater security for organizations, IT and employees. With zero-touch, users see an intuitive onboarding that requires just a few steps with the Setup Wizard. In addition, partners have greater flexibility in device support, with capabilities for Wifi-only, dedicated devices and tablets.

We’re seeing tremendous growth with partners, most recently in the Asia-Pacific region. Today, we’re pleased to welcome partners from Australia: Skywire, Vodafone Hutchison Australia, JB Hifi, Multimedia Technology, Optus; Singapore: M1; The Philippines: Smart Communications, Globe Telecom ; Thailand: A2 Network, DTAC; Japan: KDDI Corporation, NTT Docomo; Hong Kong: 1010 Corporate Solutions; Indonesia: Telkomsel, Malifax, Indosat; PT. Satya Amarta Prima; Taiwan: FarEasTone, Cipherlab, Chungwa; Malaysia: Maxis; New Zealand: Sato, PB Technologies; China: RugGear, Lenovo; India: Appobile Labs. 

Zero-touch enrollment is a key feature in how companies around the world are using Android to mobilize their teams. Recent Gartner research validates this trend, with businesses in particular embracing devices that meet the elevated standards of Android Enterprise Recommended.

Learn more about zero-touch enrollment and explore our partnerships in the Enterprise Solutions Directory.

Information privacy and security are essential for businesses in the legal industry. Legal teams want the convenience afforded by mobility, while devices must adhere to strict management and data protection standards. Several major law firms are choosing Android Enterprise solutions for the security, flexibility and management capabilities to keep their teams connected while giving IT peace of mind about secure access to sensitive case information.

How Android keeps teams connected at Howard Kennedy LLP

Howard Kennedy LLP is a London-based law firm that sought to ensure that their teams could securely access essential case files from mobile devices, instead of needing to bring the paper files or pull out their laptop.  When the time came for devising this strategy with the IT team, the firm’s partners made it clear that they didn’t want employees to have to carry personal and work devices.

Personally-enabled work devices were the right solution—these corporate devices use the Android work profile to keep personal and corporate apps and data separate on the same device, while also giving IT a vast array of device controls. 

“We've equipped our users with devices that they can use for just about anything, business or personal.” said Howard Kennedy IT Director Clive Knott. “More importantly, we've got those devices locked down in such a way that we have full control over what we do.”

By managing the devices with Enterprise Mobility Management provider BlackBerry, Howard Kennedy IT teams are confident in their device security and management tools. The IT team also uses managed Google Play to deliver the essential apps needed for their legal work. 

Android the right verdict for Brodies LLP

Brodies LLP, a large Scottish law firm, wanted to invest more deeply in mobility so its team of lawyers could access essential information quickly and securely from anywhere.

The solution was deploying a fleet of fully managed devices to its legal teams. With BlackBerry UEM partner Appurity, the firm implemented a secure and rapid device rollout.

“With Android zero-touch enrollment, and as part of our Mobile Managed Service when building and deploying devices for legal firms, we can deliver large-scale environments across multiple sites, with the required apps,” said Appurity Director Steve Whiter.

With managed Google Play, the firm deploys several apps to the Android work profile to support the legal teams’ work.  For example, the Rubus Android app, developed by Appurity Connect gives lawyers access to iManage, for accessing and tracking their key files.  iManage is a widely-used document management system for legal and finance customers, including both Howard Kennedy and Brodies. 

As part of its Android solution, Appurity securely enables this software on devices so fee earners and partners can send and file essential documents within a matter of minutes, and access, edit, and open them from virtually anywhere. 

“Android allows our employees to use consumer apps when they're sensible, while Android Enterprise connects everything back to our network in a secure way,” Brodies LLP IT Director Damien Behan said. “If you're in a meeting with a client and they ask you about a particular document, the ability to directly access the latest version of that document is invaluable. It's been a great advantage for our lawyers."

Enterprises across various industries continue to adopt Android in the workplace to support critical business needs.