Tag Archives: ios

New data exfiltration protections for G Suite data on iOS devices

What’s changing 

We’re adding new security controls that admins can use to protect sensitive company data on iOS devices. Admins can now choose to:

  • Restrict copy and paste on data belonging to G Suite accounts to other accounts. This can prevent corporate data from being exfiltrated to personal accounts. 
  • Restrict the ability for users to drag and drop files from specific apps within their G Suite account. 

At launch, admin controls will apply to five G Suite iOS apps: Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This feature is available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. Users will still be able to copy and paste and drag and drop from personal accounts to G Suite accounts. Protections are available to devices managed with G Suite’s basic or advanced mobile device management, as well as devices with basic mobile management alongside a separate enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution.

Who’s impacted 

Admins

Why it’s important 

Without these features, there are limitations in the controls admins have to prevent users moving corporate data between corporate and personal accounts on the same iOS device. While admins can prevent sharing files between managed and unmanaged apps, users can still share data between accounts when apps support multiple accounts or via cut/copy/paste actions. For example, iOS users can copy the text of a corporate email into a personal account. This introduces the potential for data leaks and reduces the overall security of your corporate data on iOS.

The admin controls introduced in this launch will help increase protections and make it more difficult for corporate data to be accidentally or intentionally shared to a personal account. Similar protections are already available on Android devices through Work Profiles.

See our post on the Cloud Blog to learn how this and other launches can help G Suite customers stay secure.

Getting started 


  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the organizational unit (OU) level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about data protection on iOS devices. 
  • End users: There is no end-user setting for this feature. If a user tries to perform a restricted copy and paste action, the text “This info can only be shared within your organization’s G Suite apps” will paste instead of the text they copied. 


Admin controls for data exfiltration protection on iOS 

Rollout pace 


  • This feature is already available for all domains. 

Availability 


  • Available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education customers and Cloud Identity Premium customers 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits customers, and Cloud Identity Free customers 

Resources 


Gmail for iOS now allows you to add attachments from the Files app

Quick launch summary 

In the Gmail iOS app, when composing or replying to an email, you can now upload attachments from the Files app on your iPhone or iPad.



Getting started 


  • End users: This feature will be available by default. In the Gmail iOS app, when composing or replying to an email, click the attachment icon and scroll to the “Attachments” section. Then select the folder icon to select an attachment from the Files app. 

Rollout pace 


  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 12, 2020 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 12, 2020 

Availability 


  • Available to all Gmail iOS users.

Dynamic email in Gmail available on Android and iOS

Quick launch summary 

We previously announced dynamic emails for Gmail on the web. This functionality is now rolling out to Gmail on Android and iOS.

Dynamic email brings the richness and interactivity of AMP to your mobile device, allowing you to take action directly within a message. You can respond to a comment, RSVP to an event, manage subscription preferences, and more.


The content of Dynamic email can be kept up to date, which means you can open an email and view the most up-to-date order status of an e-commerce order or the latest job postings.

Availability

Rollout details
  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 21, 2019
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 21, 2019

G Suite editions
  • Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
  • Dynamic email is ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Dark theme is coming to Gmail for Android and iOS

Quick launch summary 

Earlier this year, we launched the new Gmail on mobile to help you get things done quickly, such as viewing attachments or searching for a specific email.

We’re further enhancing the Gmail experience on Android and iOS devices by introducing dark theme support. Dark theme will begin rolling out today—for details on how to configure dark mode once it’s rolled out to your device, see below.



How to enable dark theme in Gmail on Android: 
  • To enable dark theme on Android 10: 
    • In your Android Display system setting, set your device to Dark theme—Gmail will automatically respect the system default setting. 
    • On Pixel, when Battery Saver is enabled, Gmail will default to Dark theme automatically. 
    • Or, in Gmail go to Settings > Theme and select “Dark". 
How to enable Dark theme in Gmail on iOS: 
  • For iOS 11 or 12, enable Dark theme by going to Settings > Dark Theme. 
  • To enable dark theme on iOS 13, you can: 
    • Set your device to dark theme in iOS Settings, and Gmail, by default, will automatically respect the system default setting. 
    • Or, in Gmail go to Settings > Theme and select “Dark”. 

Availability 

Rollout details 
  • Android 10: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 24, 2019 
  • iOS:Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 24, 2019 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions
On/off by default? 
  • This feature will automatically respect the system settings in Android 10 and iOS 13. 
  •  Dark theme can also be enabled within the respective Gmail app settings. 

Use an Android phone for 2-step verification on iOS devices

Quick launch summary 

Earlier this year we announced the ability to use your Android phone’s built-in security key for two-factor authentication in G Suite.

Now, you can use devices with Android 7.0+ (Nougat) to verify your sign-in to Google and Google Cloud services on Apple iPads and iPhones.
To learn more about using your Android phone’s built-in security key to verify sign-in on iOS devices, see our Security Blog. 


Availability 

Rollout details 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions 
On/off by default? 
  • If 2-Step Verification or Security Key Enforcement is turned on for an organization, Android phone will be available as an option for security keys by default. 

Use an Android phone for 2-step verification on iOS devices

Quick launch summary 

Earlier this year we announced the ability to use your Android phone’s built-in security key for two-factor authentication in G Suite.

Now, you can use devices with Android 7.0+ (Nougat) to verify your sign-in to Google and Google Cloud services on Apple iPads and iPhones.
To learn more about using your Android phone’s built-in security key to verify sign-in on iOS devices, see our Security Blog. 


Availability 

Rollout details 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions 
On/off by default? 
  • If 2-Step Verification or Security Key Enforcement is turned on for an organization, Android phone will be available as an option for security keys by default. 

Open sourcing Science Journal iOS



Google’s Science Journal app enables you to use the sensors in your mobile devices to perform science experiments. We believe anyone can be a scientist anywhere. Science doesn’t just happen in the classroom or lab—tools like Science Journal let you see how the world works with just your phone. From learning about sound and motion to discovering how atmospheric pressure works, Science Journal helps you understand and measure the world around you.

We’re extremely excited to announce that we’re open sourcing this powerful science tool. We know the heart of science is not just critical thinking, but also knowledge sharing, building on discoveries, and learning about the world. Have a student with a knack for building things? Do you want to learn how mobile applications are put together? Download our source code, make changes and discoveries, and then deploy the newly-modified app to your own iOS device.

Why open source?

Inquiring minds are always asking, “How does this work?” With our open source app, there are many science and engineering topics to explore! For example, we use the Fast Fourier transform in our iOS code, but you may ask “how did you do that?” Because you can see our source code, you can discover-- not just that we used the Fast Fourier transform-- but how the algorithm works. We also make it possible to graph many sensor values in realtime and now you can see exactly how we’ve made that possible.

If you aren’t an iOS or Android engineer, don’t fret! You can even learn how apps are put together so you can build your own. Learning from, and making modifications to, open source code has helped countless Google engineers explore complicated topics and learn new skills.



Have you ever wished you could do something with Science Journal that it doesn’t currently do? Do you have an idea for building a new sensor and displaying its data in Science Journal? Maybe you’ve wanted to experiment with changing colors or fonts in the app, or even changing the Science Journal app icon to be a labrador with a lab coat? Now you can, by forking our repo, making changes, and committing them in your fork!

If you think your changes are amazing and should be included in Google’s Science Journal App, read our contribution guide. But if you want to keep your changes to yourself and your friends, well, that’s cool too! We’d love to see what you’ve built, so you can tweet at us @GScienceJournal, or just use the #myScienceJournal hashtag on Twitter.

By Joshua Liebowitz, iOS Tech Lead

iOS Accessibility Scanner Framework

At Google, we are committed to accessibility and are constantly looking for ways to improve our development process to discover, debug and fix accessibility issues. Today we are excited to announce a new open source project: Accessibility Scanner for iOS (or GSCXScanner as we lovingly call it). This is a developer tool that can assist in locating and fixing accessibility issues while an app is being developed.

App development can be a time consuming process, especially when it involves human testers. Sometimes, as in the case with accessibility testing, they are necessary. A developer can write automated tests to perform some accessibility checks, but GSCXScanner takes this one step further. When a new feature is being developed, often there are several iterations of code changes, building, launching and trying out the new feature. It is faster and easier to fix accessibility issues with the feature if they can be detected during this phase when the developer is working with the new feature.

GSCXScanner lives in your app process and can perform accessibility checks on the UI currently on the screen simply with the touch of a button. The scanner’s UI which is overlaid on the app can be moved around so you can use your app normally and trigger a scan only when you need it. Also, it uses GTXiLib, a library of iOS accessibility checks to scan your app, and you can author your own GTX checks and have them run along with scanner’s default checks.

Using the scanner does not eliminate the need for manual testing or automated tests, these are must haves for delivering quality products. But GCSXScanner can speed up the development process by showing issues in app during development.

Help us improve GSCXScanner by suggesting a feature or better yet, writing one.

By Sid Janga, Central Accessibility Team

Google Drive is getting a new look on iOS and Android

What’s changing  

Google Drive is getting a new look and feel on iOS and Android, making it easier to communicate and collaborate across files in Drive on mobile devices.



This Material redesign is part of a larger effort to bring the look and feel of our G Suite apps together as a whole, with ease-of-use in mind.

Some improvements you’ll see include:
  • New Home tab and bottom navigation 
    • Similar to Drive on the web, the Home tab will surface the files that are most important to you, based on things like: 
      • The last time you accessed or edited a file 
      • Who specific files are frequently shared with 
      • What files are used at specific times of day.
  • A more intuitive bottom navigation bar that features options to switch between Home, Starred, files shared with you (Shared), and all files (Files), allowing for quicker access to your most important items.

  • Expanded search bar 
    • The search bar is now more accessible across the application, including from the Team Drives page.
  •  My Drive, Team Drives and Computers in Files view 
    • Team Drives will be now be displayed as a tab next to My Drive in the Files view. Users will also see a Computers tab if they have backed up content from a local machine to their account. 

    •  New account switching experience 
      • The feature to switch accounts is moving from the left navigation menu to an icon in the top right.


      •  Revised actions menu 
        • A revised actions menu attached to every file and folder emphasizes the most frequently used actions at the top. Toggles for starred and offline are now changed to buttons.

        Who’s impacted 

        End users

        Why you’d use it 

        We know that mobile devices are critical to getting work done, whether it’s at our desk, in a meeting, sending an email, or collaborating. Drive is not just a way to backup files to the cloud, but a critical way to easily share work, make last minute changes to content, or review important content on the go. The Drive Mobile redesign aims to make these workflows easier.

        How to get started 

        • Admins: No action required. 
        • End users: You’ll see the new look coming your way soon. 

        Additional details

        iOS users will begin seeing the redesign starting on March 12, 2019. Android users will see the redesign starting on March 18, 2019.

        To help your users navigate this redesign, see this change management guide or download this PDF.

        Helpful links 

        View the change management guide for this update. Also available as a PDF.
        Using Google Drive on Android
        Using Google Drive on iOS 

        Availability 

        Rollout details 
        • iOS: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) rollout starting March 12, 2019.
        • Android: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) rollout starting March 18, 2019. 
        G Suite editions 
        Available to all G Suite Editions.

        On/off by default? 
        This feature will be ON by default.

        Stay up to date with G Suite launches

        Getting screen brightness right for every user

        Posted by Ben Murdoch, Software Engineer and Michael Wright, Android Framework Engineer

        The screen on a mobile device is critical to the user experience. The improved Adaptive Brightness feature in Android P automatically manages the display to match your preferences for brightness level so you get the best experience, whatever the current lighting environment.

        Screen brightness in Android is managed via Quick Settings or via the settings app

        (Settings → Display → Brightness Level).

        In Android Pie, Adaptive Brightness is enabled by default (Settings → Display → Adaptive Brightness).

        While enabled, Android automatically selects a screen brightness that's suitable for the user's current ambient light conditions. Prior to Android Pie, the brightness slider didn't represent an absolute screen brightness level, but a global adjustment factor for boosting or reducing the device manufacturer's preset screen brightness curve across all ambient light levels:

        * Setting the slider to center resulted in the device using the preset.

        * Setting the slider to the left of center applied a negative scale factor, making the screen dimmer than the preset.

        * Setting the slider to the right of center applied a positive scale factor, making the screen brighter than the preset.

        So, under low ambient light conditions, you might prefer a brighter screen than the preset level and move the brightness slider up accordingly. But, because that adjustment would boost the brightness at all ambient light levels, you might find yourself needing to move the brightness slider back down in brighter ambient light. And so on, back and forth.

        To improve this experience, we've introduced two important changes to screen brightness in Android Pie:

        1. Better slider control
        2. Personalization of the brightness level

        Better slider control

        The slider control now represents absolute screen brightness rather than the global adjustment factor. That means that you may see it move on its own while Adaptive Brightness is on. This is expected behavior!

        Humans perceive brightness on a logarithmic rather than linear scale1. That means changes in screen brightness are much more noticeable when the screen is dark versus bright. To match this difference in perception, we updated the brightness slider UI in the notification shade and System Settings app to work on a more human-like scale. This means you may need to move the slider farther to the right than you did on previous versions of Android for the same absolute screen brightness, and that when setting a dark screen brightness you have more precise control over exactly which brightness to set.

        Personalization of screen brightness

        Prior to Android P, when developing a new Android device the device manufacturer would determine a baseline mapping from ambient brightness to screen brightness based on the display manufacturer's recommendation and a bit of experimentation. All users of that device would receive the same baseline mapping and, while using the device, move the brightness slider around to set their global adjustment factor. To determine the final screen brightness, the system would first look at the room brightness and the baseline mapping to find the default screen brightness for that situation, and then apply the global adjustment factor.

        What we found is that in many cases this global adjustment factor didn't adequately capture personal preferences - that is, users tended to change the slider often for new lighting environments.

        For Android Pie we worked with researchers from DeepMind to build a machine learning model that will observe the interactions that a user makes with the screen brightness slider, and train on-device to personalise the mapping of ambient light level to screen brightness.

        This means that Android will learn what screen brightness is comfortable for a user in a given lighting environment. The user teaches it by manually adjusting the slider, and, as the software trains over time, the user should need to make fewer manual adjustments. In testing the feature, we've observed that after a week almost half our test users are making fewer manual adjustments while the total number of slider interactions across all internal test users was reduced by over 10%. The model that we've developed is updatable and will be tuned based on real world usage now that Android Pie has been released. This means that the model will continue to get better over time.

        We believe that screen brightness is one of those things that should just work, and these changes in Android Pie are a step towards realizing that. For the best performance no matter where you are models run directly on the device rather than the cloud, and train overnight while the device charges.

        The improved Adaptive Brightness feature is now available on Pixel devices and we are working with our OEM partners now to incorporate Adaptive Brightness into Android Pie builds for their devices.

        Notes

        1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber%E2%80%93Fechner_law#Vision ↩