New Android Feature Set to Make a Comeback in 2023
A HANDY Android feature looks set to make a comeback nine years after it mysteriously vanished from phones, according to reports.
Lock screen widgets are rumoured to a ‘new’ feature that is currently in development, Android Authority first reported.
Lock Screen Widgets: An Exciting New Feature in the Works
The feature was lost in Android 5.0, but will potentially return in Android 15, which is expected to roll out to handsets later this year.
Android has supported home screen widgets since its first public release in 2009. Widgets initially set Android apart from Apple’s iOS for being more customisable. Apple only hopped onto the widgets wave in 2020.
Communal Space: A Peek Into the Future of Android
Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman spotted a so-called “communal” space, which appears to function like a widget drawer that’s opened via the lock screen. It’s still under works, so the feature is not totally usable yet.
According to Rahman, the lock screen panel would only accept widgets that had declared ‘WIDGET_CATEGORY_KEYGUARD’ constant – this the developer term for an old Android system. This was the old-now-retired system that first added lock screen widget support.
The Potential for Expansion on Larger Devices
There are not many apps that support lock screen widgets these days – but that could all change if Google officially announces the feature’s comeback.
However, Rahman discovered another clue that suggests the feature may be in development for devices with larger screens, and not Pixel phones. Alongside the name “communal,” was mention of a “common surface,” which Rahman said could indicate that the feature won’t be made available to Android phones after all. Instead, it may be primarily intended for large-screen devices that support Google’s new hub mode, like the Pixel Tablet.