Whereas there aren’t loads of new options in Android 15, it does supply some helpful additions on your cellphone — and probably the most attention-grabbing is named “Personal Area.” Consider it as a separate app vault that locks away specified apps in your Android system.
In fact, the primary lockscreen already stops different folks from accessing your cellphone, however Personal Area places an additional barrier in place. The thought is that when you lend somebody your system to make a name or take a look at a photograph, they received’t unintentionally (or intentionally) stumble into one thing they shouldn’t. It’s additionally an additional security internet in case your cellphone is misplaced or stolen whereas it’s unlocked.
I attempted the characteristic on a Pixel 8 cellphone working Android 15. Right here’s the way it works.
Now, everytime you wish to go to your non-public house, simply scroll to the underside of the app drawer, faucet on the padlock icon, and authenticate (utilizing both a biometric methodology like fingerprint recognition, or a PIN).
You possibly can’t drag apps out and in of your non-public house — you must set up them. Consider it virtually like a very totally different Android system. Whenever you’re throughout the house, faucet the Set up button so as to add new apps, and long-press on an app icon and select Uninstall to take away them.
You possibly can obtain notifications from apps within the non-public house, however solely when it’s unlocked. To make use of the identical instance as I used above, it’s successfully like a separate system, and when the house is locked, it’s such as you’ve turned off that system. For that reason, Google doesn’t advocate utilizing it to retailer apps which may have to ship you essential data.
When you’ve unlocked your non-public house, it stays open on the app drawer till you lock it once more by way of the Lock button. It’s also possible to have the house lock mechanically in sure conditions: this and different choices might be configured by tapping on the gear icon within the non-public house window.
Observe that you could’t switch your non-public house to a brand new cellphone. The usual Android-to-Android setup course of received’t embody any non-public house apps. You’ll have to begin the non-public house once more from scratch, although you may register with the identical Google account you used for the non-public house on the older cellphone, which is able to restore your knowledge in apps corresponding to Gmail and Google Maintain.
