Mishaal's Android News Feed

Google Chrome will soon require biometrics for password autofills if your Android phone gets stolen Chrome is preparing to support Android's Identity Check feature, which is coming in the December Android 15 QPR1 update. More details on this upcoming change can be found in this article.

Here's an in-depth look at Android 15's new Failed Authentication Lock feature - how it works, why it requires Android 15, and a video demo! Everything you need to know can be found in this article.

Google Play will force many apps to use Android’s Photo Picker for better privacy Google wants to crack down on how many apps have broad access to your personal photos & videos, so it's trying to make developers use Android's Photo Picker. More details over on this article.

Android's new Theft Protection features are awesome, but many people probably won't find them because they're buried under layers of Settings. Thankfully, Google is rolling out a new, easier way to access Theft Protection settings on Android!

Android 15 introduces a new security feature wherein if multiple failed login attempts are made, the OS will lock down your device to prevent unauthorized access. The official term for this new feature seems to be Failed Authentication Lock, and it's considered part of Android's new suite of theft protection features, alongside Theft Detection Lock, Remote Lock, and Offline Device Lock. The existence of this feature was already known since Google announced it at I/O and also earlier this week, but the company never shared the name for it until now.

Motorola is the latest smartphone brand to roll out Circle to Search to its smartphones! X user Nhyphk tells me that after receiving the October 2024 update on his Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, he now has Circle to Search.

Motorola is the latest smartphone brand to roll out Circle to Search to its smartphones! X user Nhyphk tells me that after receiving the October 2024 update on his Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, he now has Circle to Search.

OnePlus has announced that its next major version of OxygenOS - OxygenOS 15 based on Android 15 - will be unveiled next week on Friday, October 24 at 11:30AM ET! OnePlus teases "unprecedented smooth animations effects," a "unique visual style," new features that "empower multi-tasking scenarios and personality expression," and the company's latest AI features that maximize productivity and creativity. Looking forward to trying it out on the OnePlus 12/Open!

Google is rolling out a Timeline menu on Android where you can delete, backup, or export your location history data. Google said it'd move location history from the cloud to on-device, and it's making good on that promise. More details can be found in my latest article for Android Authority.

F-Droid is the first third-party app store to support Android 15's app archiving feature! The popular repository for FOSS apps is preparing to add support for app archiving in its next release, using new APIs Google added in Android 15. 🔗Details in this article on Android Authority. (The contributor who submitted the patch to add app archiving support to F-Droid used my articles as background ❤️. I love when my articles help developers!)

The October '24 Pixel Drop update is here! Google's latest Pixel Drop brings a bunch of new features, including Night Sight for Instagram, notification dismissal syncing, and the Pixel Weather app to more devices! Go here to find ALL the details on the update…

Android 15's app archiving feature works with ALL Android apps, regardless if they're distributed as APKs or Android App Bundles. In contrast, the Play Store's auto-archiving feature only works with app bundles. Here's why.