Android 7.1 Nougat: app shortcuts and Pixel

Android 7.1 is the Nougat update that shipped first on Google’s own phone, the Pixel, two months before any Nexus got it. For users it brought Night Light and seamless updates. For developers, API 25 added app shortcuts on the launcher icon, round icons and a way for keyboards to send images.

At a glance

Google announced the Pixel on 4 October 2016 with “Android 7.1 Nougat” on board. The first Pixel factory images, build NDE63H, are dated October 2016. On 11 October Google said a developer preview for Nexus devices would come “later this month” and the final release “in early December”. The preview’s first build, on 19 October, already had the final API 25 and opened Play to apps targeting it. The two developer previews and the two 7.1.2 betas are the four parts that follow this overview.

7.1 is a point release on top of Android 7.0. Everything 7.0 introduced, from multi-window to file-based encryption, is covered there.

Three releases, one API level

The Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 never got 7.1.2. Their last factory images are 7.1.1 builds from October 2017. In 7.1.2 the Pixel C got the Pixel Launcher, round icons and a tablet recent-apps grid, and every device got a “Battery usage alerts” screen, Ars Technica reported.

What it brought

• App shortcuts. A long press on a launcher icon shows actions that jump into the app, each one backed by an intent. Static shortcuts live in res/xml/shortcuts.xml, referenced from the launcher activity with a <meta-data android:name="android.app.shortcuts">. Dynamic ones are published at runtime through ShortcutManager (Context.SHORTCUT_SERVICE). Google’s 7.1 page allowed up to five per app, and some launchers show fewer.
• Round icons. A new android:roundIcon attribute. The launcher asks for an icon, and the framework returns android:icon or android:roundIcon depending on the device build. The Pixel launcher used the round one.
• Image keyboards. The Commit Content API lets a keyboard send a GIF, sticker or image straight into a text field. The flow is in Permissions, because it rests on a URI grant. It also shipped in support library 25.0.0 for older versions.
• Night Light. Tints the screen amber on a schedule or at sunset. It runs through the Hardware Composer HAL 2.0 instead of a GL shader, so it needs driver support. Google’s Ian Lake said that is why Nexus phones would not get it, as reported by Android Police.
• Storage manager intent. StorageManager.ACTION_MANAGE_STORAGE opens the system “Free up space” screen, so an app short of space can let the user clear room.
• Demo user. UserManager.isDemoUser() tells an app it runs on a store demo unit. AOSP dates system-level retail demo mode to 7.1.1.
• Daydream VR. VR mode came in 7.0. 7.1 added ActivityManager.setVrThread(): one thread per process that the scheduler favours while the app is in VR mode. Google launched its Daydream headset at the same 4 October event.
• Smaller additions. Gender parity for profession emoji (check support with Paint.hasGlyph()), a context URL and title for live wallpaper metadata, multi-endpoint calling and Visual Voicemail source types for carriers, and Wear densities DENSITY_260, DENSITY_300 and DENSITY_340.

What was Pixel, not Android

Ars Technica listed what Google kept for the Pixel: the Pixel Launcher with its swipe-up app drawer, Google Assistant, unlimited original-quality Google Photos backup, the support tab in Settings and the new navigation buttons. Nexus devices on 7.1.1 got the platform list instead. The Nexus 5X and 6P also missed the fingerprint swipe to open notifications. Android Police reported that their sensors could not do it, but Google’s 7.1.2 changelog lists “Fingerprint swipe on 5X/6P”, as reported by Ars Technica.

Security and privacy

• No new hardening list. Google’s “Security enhancements” page has a 7.0 entry and nothing for 7.1. The platform work is in 7.0.
• Seamless updates. The Pixels were the first phones with A/B system updates: two system slots, one updated in the background while the phone stays in use. If the new slot fails to boot, the device falls back to the old one. The 7.1 CDD added that devices “SHOULD support A/B system updates”; the 7.0 CDD did not say so.
• Updates from Google. Google said Pixel phones get software and security updates “as soon as they’re available, directly from Google”. Ars Technica noted the promise covered two years of major OS updates.
• Storage manager may uninstall silently. The 7.1 CDD forbids anyone but an app’s installer from uninstalling it without a prompt, with two exceptions: the package verifier and the storage manager handling ACTION_MANAGE_STORAGE. That second exception is new in 7.1.
• End of security patches. The October 2019 security bulletin is the last that lists 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 among the updated AOSP versions. From November 2019 the oldest version listed is 8.0.

Permissions

No permission was added or removed in API 25. The API diff for the android package touches only R.attr, where the shortcut and roundIcon attributes live. Two features are guarded in other ways:

• Who reads shortcuts. Another app’s shortcuts are visible only to the current launcher, checked by LauncherApps.hasShortcutHostPermission(). Publishing your own needs no permission.
• Keyboard content. The keyboard hands over a content URI, not the bytes. It sets INPUT_CONTENT_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION, which grants the app a temporary read on that URI from API 25. On 7.0 and lower the flag is ignored and the keyboard has to grant access itself.

Google recommends that the keyboard’s provider is not exported (android:exported="false") and grants URI permissions instead (android:grantUriPermissions="true").

What changed for your app

All apps on Android 7.1

Apps targeting API 25

Google published no behaviour changes tied to targeting API 25. Its 7.1 page has no changes section, and the preview post only advised targeting 25 to “test your app with compatibility behaviors disabled”. The work is opt-in: shortcuts, round icons and rich content.

What lasted

• App shortcuts are still the long-press menu. Android 8.0 added pinned shortcuts with requestPinShortcut(), and pinned ones have no count limit. Most launchers now show four at a time.
• Round icons were replaced in Android 8.0 by adaptive icons, which the device masks to its own shape.
• Commit Content has a successor: Google calls Android 12’s OnReceiveContentListener its next version. It also takes content from the clipboard and from drag and drop.
• A/B updates grew: streaming A/B in 8.0, and Virtual A/B replaced legacy A/B in Android 10.
• Night Light is still in AOSP, driven by ColorDisplayManager.
• Retail demo mode was rebuilt around demo users in Android 8.1. AOSP now says it is no longer supported since 8.1.

Worth knowing

• The constant’s comment in AOSP reads N MR1: Nougat++.
• 7.1 kept the 7.0 Easter egg, the cat-collecting Android Neko: PlatLogoActivity.java is the same file at both release tags.
• Google no longer guaranteed version updates to the Nexus 6 and 9 after October 2016, Ars Technica noted. Both got 7.1.1 anyway, and that is where they stopped.
• In 2016 Ars Technica found that Qualcomm was not supporting Nougat on the Snapdragon 800 and 801. The Fairphone 2 uses an 801 and still got an official 7.1.2 update in November 2018. Fairphone says it was the only 801 phone to make that upgrade.