Notes

25entriesRSS

Field notes, long-form articles, manuals, and decision records — written while building, kept current or explicitly marked stale.

Article

Android 7.0 Nougat: two apps on one screen

API 24, August 2016. Split-screen multi-window, Doze in a moving pocket, file-based encryption with Direct Boot, and apps that stop trusting user-added CAs by default.

Oct 202616 min read5 partsPart 6 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 8.0 Oreo: limits on background work

API 26, August 2017. Background services and implicit broadcasts were fenced in, every notification needed a channel, and Project Treble split Android from the vendor code.

Oct 202615 min read4 partsPart 8 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 8.1 Oreo: Go edition and on-device ML

API 27, December 2017. It added Android Oreo (Go edition) for phones with 1 GB of RAM or less, the Neural Networks API for on-device ML, and a SharedMemory API.

Oct 202610 min read2 partsPart 9 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 9 Pie: idle apps lose camera and mic

API 28, August 2018. Idle apps lost the camera, mic and sensors, cleartext HTTP became opt-in, hidden APIs started to fail, and a pill replaced the home button.

Oct 202616 min read5 partsPart 10 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 10: scoped storage, no dessert

API 29, September 2019. The first release named only by its number. Scoped storage, a separate background location permission, gesture navigation and a system-wide dark theme.

Oct 202618 min read6 partsPart 11 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 11: one-time grants, scoped storage

API 30, September 2020. Camera, microphone and location got "Only this time", unused apps lost their permissions, and apps targeting 30 could no longer opt out of scoped storage.

Oct 202619 min read7 partsPart 12 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 12: Material You, privacy dashboard

API 31, October 2021. The wallpaper colored the system, a dashboard showed who used location, camera and mic, and apps targeting 31 had to set exported and PendingIntent flags.

Oct 202621 min read8 partsPart 13 of 19 · Android, version by version

Article

Android 12L: built for tablets and foldables

API 32, March 2022. A feature drop for Android 12 that gave tablets and foldables a taskbar, drag-and-drop split screen and two-column system UI, with no breaking changes.

Oct 202611 min read4 partsPart 14 of 19 · Android, version by version