Google Phone app can now be installed on some non-Pixel phones from the Play Store

The Google Phone app is Google’s default dialer application that’s pre-installed on Pixel smartphones, Android One smartphones, and more recently, Xiaomi smartphones sold in Europe. It isn’t usually possible to install the application on other devices without using either a modified application or a Magisk Module, but today we found out that the latest version of the app can be installed on certain devices straight from the Google Play Store.

We were first tipped off about this possibility by XDA Senior Member springer.music who said that the latest Google Phone app can be installed on the ASUS ZenFone 6 running the latest ZenUI update, version WW_17.1810.2003.144. Multiple users on the official ASUS ZenTalk forums also confirmed this possibility. Curious, I decided to see if I could install the app on some of my own devices. Lo and behold, I managed to hop onto the Google Play Store and download the app onto my OPPO Find X2 Pro running ColorOS 7.1. Specifically, the version I installed was version 47.0.305350684-publicbeta. When I first installed the Google Phone app, I was met with a warning that phone calls may not work because the device was “incompatible,” but after granting it various permissions and making it my default dialer app, I was able to successfully make and receive phone calls. Features such as Assisted dialing, Caller ID & spam, and Nearby places seem to be available, but Pixel-specific features like Call Screen are not.

XDA’s Max Weinbach also confirmed he could install the app on his LG V60 ThinQ and make and receive phone calls, but he was unable to install the app on his OnePlus 6T running OxygenOS or his Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra running One UI 2.1. I was also unable to install the app on my OnePlus 7 Pro. This could be a sign that Google plans on expanding support for the Google Phone app to more devices, or it could just be that Google accidentally forgot to mark this update as incompatible with certain devices.

We briefly checked the Manifest and found that the app still requires the com.google.android.dialer.support shared library to be present. This shared library is not present on the Samsung Galaxy S20 which is why the app refuses to be installed on it. This library is, however, present on the OPPO Find X2 Pro and ASUS ZenFone 6, which might explain why the app can be installed on those devices. To check if this library is present on your own device, you can run the following ADB shell command:

pm list libraries | grep "com.google.android.dialer.support"

You can try downloading the latest version of the Google Phone app from the Google Play Store link below or from APKMirror. Let us know if the app works for you!

Phone (Free, Google Play) →

This article was updated at 5:45PM EST on April 10, 2020, to add more details about why the app seems to be compatible with more devices now. Another update at 6:05PM EST was made to add that the required shared library is present on the ASUS ZenFone 6 as well.

The post Google Phone app can now be installed on some non-Pixel phones from the Play Store appeared first on xda-developers.

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LineageOS 17.1 based on Android 10 is now officially available

If you call yourself a custom ROM veteran, you definitely have heard about LineageOS. LineageOS traces its roots back to CyanogenMod, the custom ROM that became popular on the HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1, the first Android smartphone available for purchase. CyanogenMod, in turn, went on to become one of the most popular custom ROMs available across a plethora of devices, and several of the key developers and maintainers of the project went on to establish LineageOS when Cyanogen decided to stop supporting CyanogenMod. LineageOS picked up the reins with LineageOS 13.0 and LineageOS 14.1 releases, and the project has continued along over the years. Now, LineageOS is marking its major version bump up to LineageOS 17.1 with Android 10 as the base.

LineageOS XDA Forums

Why Lineage 17.1 and not 17.0?

Android 10’s source code made its way to AOSP in September 2019, and the LineageOS team has been hard at work to bring forward their ROM and its features to the new Android version base. AOSP, though, had undertaken massive refactoring in certain areas, which made porting over take longer than anticipated. AOSP also introduced features like the new Permissions Hub, which conflicted with the custom ROM’s PrivacyGuard feature, forcing them to drop it. Both of these changes meant that the team had to work harder and take more time for bringing up the ROM as a whole to Android 10.

Meanwhile, the December 2019 Android Security Bulletin was released by Google, and the LineageOS team decided to rebase on the more feature-filled Google Pixel 4/4XL tag of AOSP. Owing to this, the team has also decided to jump up on the subversion, going from 17.0 to 17.1. For the future too, if there is any large scale rebasing undertaken onto a different tag, the team will jump up on the subversion number.

As a consequence of this jump, the team will be locking all Lineage-17.0 branches to contributions on their Gerrit, and abandoning existing 17.0 changes. Developers are still free to cherry-pick changes to 17.1, though.

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Administrative and maintenance changes

The jump up to official LineageOS 17.1 means that most of the current build resources will now focus on building these new updates for supported devices. This has the expected side-effect of diverting resources from older builds. With the 17.1 branch reaching feature and stability-parity with 16.0, it will become the most recent and most actively developed branch, with regular nightly builds for supported devices commencing from January 31, 2020. Consequently, 16.0 will be moved to weekly builds, while 15.1 will be deprecated from automated builds.

LineageOS 17.1 will launch building for a small selection of devices, with additional devices to come as they are marked as both Charter compliant and ready for builds by their maintainer.

The Lineage team is also bringing over focus to their Wiki refresh. The LineageOS Wiki was recently extended and device maintainers were given significantly more options to customize their device’s individual installation, update, and upgrade instructions. As of LineageOS 17.1, maintainers will be expected to run through the full instructions on their device wiki and verify that the information holds true for their device. This renewed focus on the wiki is in light of the building up changes to AOSP, such as System-As-Root, A/B Partition Scheme, and Dynamic Partitions, which have the combined effect of obsoleting the instructions many of us have been following for years from memory — those instructions are now either no longer valid or are missing very critical steps. For example, the Heimdall (Samsung flashing tool) instructions were horribly outdated, so these have been updated to reflect new information. So if you are making the jump to LineageOS 17.1 or are just generally interested in custom ROMs, it would still be a good idea to check out your device’s Wiki page.

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New features in LineageOS 17.1

LineageOS 17.1 brings over several new features to the ROM family:

• New partial screenshot UI that lets you hand-select smaller parts of your screen and edit the screenshots.
• New adapted ThemePicker app from AOSP, with support for the usual range of accents, font change, icon (both QuickSettings, and Launcher) shape, and icon resource changes (eg. changing the shape of the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth icons).
• Use fingerprint sensor to hide and protect apps within Trebuchet Launcher
• Merge October, November, December 2019, January 2020, February 2020, and March 2020 security patches.
• Wi-Fi Display is available once again.
• Support for on-screen fingerprint sensors (FOD) added.
• Support for pop-up and rotating cameras added.
• WebView updated to Chromium 80.0.3987.132.
• ROM is currently based on AOSP’s android-10.0.0_r31 tag, which is the Pixel 4/4 XL’s tag.

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Further changes

Lineage Recovery

Lineage is also making the switch to Lineage Recovery as the defacto solution to install LineageOS. Lineage Recovery will be built by default for all officially supported devices. The team mentions that this change was done purely to streamline their own processes and not to dissuade users away from other custom recoveries. Device maintainers retain the freedom to recommend alternative recovery on their device’s Wiki page alongside full instructions for usage.

AOSP’s Permission Hub and LineageOS’s PrivacyGuard

We’ve talked about this change in the past, and now the change is finally here. LineageOS 17.1 drops support for the homebrewed PrivacyGuard implementation in favor of AOSP’s Permission Hub as the team was unable to port the PrivacyGuard framework to Android 10. Google did not release Permissions Hub with Android 10, but the code for it still exists within AOSP. So, the Lineage team forked it and now presents that as the solution as it is claimed to be almost equivalent in features, but conflicted in attempts to co-exist alongside PrivacyGuard.

Rooting — no addonsu binary support

As a byproduct of the removal of PrivacyGuard and the switch over to Permission Hub, the addonsu binary that was usually offered as a simple root access solution is no longer feasible, as we had informed before. Users interested in root have the option to use ADB root, or flash compatible third-party solutions such as Magisk. The team clarifies that this does not mean that any particular third-party solutions are endorsed as officially supported — so you still need to be mindful of the root solution working harmoniously with your ROM.

Deprecation of Styles API

The Styles API is also now getting deprecated in favor of AOSP’s ThemePicker app. The team claims complete feature parity, and even feature superiority with ThemePicker.

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Upgrade instructions for LineageOS 17.1

If you are on official LineageOS 16 and your device is present on the list of officially supported devices for LineageOS 17.1, you would still need to manually update your device as per instructions present on your device’s specific wiki page. The LineageOS updater app generally does not support upgrades from one version of LineageOS to another, so users have to make a conscious decision to update instead of being surprised by an OTA.

Device-specific instructions can vary, but for most devices we checked, the update instructions rely on using the adb reboot sideload command, and then adb sideload /”filepath” command. The Lineage team also mentions that updating within the official release channel builds does not require the user to wipe their device; but moving from an unofficial build to official LineageOS will require a device wipe from recovery.

It is very likely that you will be able to install LineageOS through a custom third-party recovery, but that is not the recommended upgrade method from the developers, so your mileage may vary on a per-device basis. Be sure to check your device’s wiki, its support page, and our own forums to ensure that you follow the correct methods to upgrade to avoid any issues.

You should also note that your ROM installation will not include Google Apps, for the simple reason that those apps are proprietary. You need to sideload a separate GApps package, with a heavy preference towards the GApps package recommended by your device maintainer/developer, because of the reasons we explain in a separate PSA. As a side note, Open GApps also released their official Android 10 flashable packages recently.

Your ROM will also not ship with a default root solution, as we explain in the preceding paragraphs. You need to separately flash third-party solutions.

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LineageOS 17.1 – Official builds for supported devices

The following is the official build roster for batch 1 of the LineageOS 17.1 rollout:

Device and Forum Link	Device codename and Wiki Link	Maintainer
ASUS Zenfone 6 (ZS630KL)	I01WD	luca020400, OrdenKrieger
BQ Aquaris X	bardock	eloimuns, Quallenauge, Team aquaris-dev
BQ Aquaris X Pro	bardockpro	Quallenauge, Team aquaris-dev
Fairphone FP2	FP2	chrmhoffman
Google Nexus 6	shamu	Elektroschmock, npjohnson
Google Pixel	sailfish	intervigil, razorloves
Google Pixel XL	marlin	intervigil, razorloves
HTC One 2014	m8	bgcngm
HTC One 2014 Dual-SIM	m8d	bgcngm
LG G2 (AT&T)	d800	Kapricomus, Arnau, YoDevil
LG G2 (T-Mobile)	d801	Kapricomus, Arnau, YoDevil
LG G2 (International)	d802	Kapricomus, Arnau, YoDevil
LG G2 (Canadian)	d803	Kapricomus, Arnau, YoDevil
LG G3 (AT&T)	d850	firebird11, HardStyl3r
LG G3 (Canada)	d852	firebird11, HardStyl3r
LG G3 (International)	d855	firebird11, HardStyl3r
LG G3 (Korea)	f400	firebird11, HardStyl3r
LG G3 (T-Mobile)	d851	firebird11, HardStyl3r
LG G3 (Verizon)	vs985	firebird11, HardStyl3r
LG G5 (Global)	rs988	npjohnson
LG G5 (International)	h850	npjohnson
LG G5 (T-Mobile)	h830	npjohnson
LG V20 (AT&T)	h910	npjohnson
LG V20 (Global)	h990	npjohnson
LG V20 (Sprint)	ls997	npjohnson
LG V20 (T-Mobile)	h918	npjohnson
LG V20 (US Unlocked)	us996	npjohnson
LG V20 (Verizon)	vs995	npjohnson
Motorola Moto Z	griffin	DD3Boh, erfanoabdi, shr3ps, stargo, vache
Motorola Moto G6 Plus (XT1926-2/3/5/6/7/8/9)	evert	Jleeblanch
Motorola Moto G7	river	erfanoabdi, Nolen Johnson (npjohnson), SyberHexen
Motorola Moto G7 Plus (XT1965-2/3/6)	lake	Jleeblanch
Motorola Moto X4	payton	erfanoabdi
Motorola Moto Z2 Force	nash	erfanoabdi, npjohnson
Motorola One Power (XT1942-1/2)	chef	Hasaber8
OnePlus 3/3T	oneplus3	dianlujitao
OnePlus 6	enchilada	luca020400, LuK1337
OnePlus 6T	fajita	LuK1337
OnePlus 7 Pro	guacamole	LuK1337, Tortel
Razer Phone	cheryl	mikeioannina
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active (GT-I9295)	jactivelte	arco, npjohnson, side
Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-I337)	jflteatt	arco, npjohnson, side
Samsung Galaxy S4 (SCH-R970/C/X,  SPH-L720)	jfltespr	arco, npjohnson, side
Samsung Galaxy S4 Value Edition (GT-I9515/L)	jfvelte	arco, npjohnson, side
Samsung Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545)	jfltevzw	arco, npjohnson, side
Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-I9505/G, SGH-I337M, SGH-M919)	jfltexx	arco, npjohnson, side
Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e Wi-Fi (SM-T720)	gts4lvwifi	bgcngm, LuK1337
Sony Xperia 10	kirin	LuK1337
Sony Xperia 10 Plus	mermaid	LuK1337
Sony Xperia XA2	pioneer	cdesai, LuK1337, Stricted
Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra	discovery	LuK1337
Xiaomi Mi 6	sagit	ArianK16a, Elektroschmock
Xiaomi Mi 8	dipper	infrag
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2	chiron	mikeioannina, wight554
Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S	polaris	bgcngm
Xiaomi POCO F1	beryllium	bgcngm, warabhishek
Lenovo ZUK Z2 Plus	z2_plus	DD3Boh

More devices should be making the transition soon to LineageOS 17.1, so keep an eye on our frontpage as we will run regular stories on the same.

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New features in LineageOS 16.0 branch

In addition to the latest branch, the older LineageOS 16.0 branch is also seeing a few major changes:

• Wi-Fi display is available once again.
• You may now route the hotspot connections through the device’s VPN.
• Support for on-screen fingerprint sensors (FOD) added.
• Support for pop-up and rotating cameras added.
• Merge July, August, September, October, November, December 2019, January 2020, February 2020, and March 2020 security patches.
• WebView updated to Chromium 80.0.3987.132.
• It is now possible to compile LineageOS 16.0 on macOS.

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LineageOS 16 – Official builds for supported devices

While maintainers work towards bringing up devices to official LineageOS 17.1 based on Android 10, you can still find automated weekly builds for these devices that are supported for LineageOS 16:

LineageOS 16 Official Build List. Tap/click to expand.

Device and Forum Link	Device codename and Wiki Link	Maintainer
ASUS ZenFone 3 (ZE520KL, ZE552KL)	zenfone3	makorn645
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1	X00TD	SagarMakhar
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2	X01BD	Bauuuuu, kubersharma001
BQ Aquaris X	bardock	eloimuns, Quallenauge, Team aquaris-dev
BQ Aquaris X Pro	bardockpro	Quallenauge, Team aquaris-dev
BQ Aquaris X2	zangya	eloimuns, Kra1o5, Team aquaris-dev
BQ Aquaris X2 Pro	zangyapro	eloimuns, Kra1o5, Team aquaris-dev
Essential PH-1	mata	haggertk, intervigil, jrior001, rashed
Fairphone 2	fp2	chrmhoffmann
Google Nexus 6	shamu	Elektroschmock, npjohnson
Google Pixel	sailfish	intervigil, razorloves
Google Pixel XL	marlin	intervigil, razorloves
Honor 5X	kiwi	BadDaemon, dobo, joelh
Honor View 10	berkeley	LuK1337
Huawei P20 Pro	charlotte	LuK1337
LeEco Le 2	s2	codeworkx, Rk585
LeEco Le Max2	x2	tortel, ThEMarD
LeEco Le Pro3/Le Pro3 Elite	zl1	codeworkx
Lenovo P2	kuntao	mikeioannina, highwaystar
Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus	YTX703F	Quallenauge, Vladimir Oltean
Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus LTE	YTX703L	Quallenauge, Vladimir Oltean
Lenovo ZUK Z1	ham	sb6596
LG G3 (Sprint)	ls990	firebird11, HardStyl3r
Motorola Moto G7	river	erfanoabdi, npjohnson, SyberHexen
Motorola Moto X 2014 (XT1092/3/5/6/7)	victara	linckandrea, Tortel
Nextbit Robin	ether	javelinanddart, mikeioannina, npjohnson
Nubia Z17	nx563j	BeYkeRYkt
OnePlus One	bacon	jrior001, npjohnson
OnePlus 2	oneplus2	OzzysCmAcc, aviraxp
OnePlus 3	oneplus3	dianlujitao
OnePlus 5	cheeseburger	codeworkx, jrizzoli, xingrz, amartinz, jumoog
OnePlus 5T	dumpling	amartinz, codeworkx
OPPO F1 (International)	f1f	highwaystar
OPPO Find 7a/7s	find7	mikeioannina
OPPO R5/R5s (International)	r5	maniac103
OPPO R7s (International)	r7sf	celoxocis
OPPO R7 Plus	r7plus	maniac103
Realme 3 Pro	RMX1851	karthick111, nibaji, darshan1205
Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 (SM-A310F/M/N0/Y)	a3xelte	danwood76, Stricted
Samsung Galaxy A5 2016 (SM-A510F/M/Y/K/L/S/8)	a5xelte	danwood76, Stricted
Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 (SM-A520F/DS/W)	a5y17lte	filiprrs, raymanfx
Samsung Galaxy A7 2017 (SM-A720F/DS)	a7y17lte	filiprrs, raymanfx
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005/P)	hlte	haggertk, npjohnson
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9008V)	hltechn	haggertk, npjohnson
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N900K/L/S)	hltekor	haggertk, npjohnson
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N900T/V/W8)	hltetmo	haggertk, npjohnson
Samsung Galaxy S III Neo Dual-SIM (GT-I9300I)	s3ve3gds	fcuzzocrea, PythonLimited
Samsung Galaxy S III Neo Samsung Camera(GT-I9301I/Q)	s3ve3gjv	fcuzzocrea, PythonLimited
Samsung Galaxy S III Neo Sony Camera (GT-I9300I/Q)	s3ve3gxx	fcuzzocrea, PythonLimited
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active	klteactivexx	javelinanddart
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE (G900AZ/F/M/R4/R7/T/V/W8,S902L)	klte	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE (G9006V/8V)	kltechn	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE (G900I/P)	kltedv	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE (SCL23)	kltekdi	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE (G900K/L/S)	kltekor	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A	lentislte	cvxda, sassman
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE Duos (G9006W/8W)	kltechnduo	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE Duos (G900FD/MD)	klteduos	haggertk
Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo	s5neolte	danwood76, Stricted
Samsung Galaxy S5 Plus	kccat6	cvxda, sassmann
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 Wi-Fi (2016)	gts28vewifi	mccreary, syphyr, luca020400
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 Wi-Fi (2016)	gts210vewifi	syphyr, luca020400
Sony Xperia Z3	z3	Tom1000, Myself5
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803/D5833)	z3c	ArianK16a
Wileyfox Storm	kipper	jrior001
Wileyfox Swift	crackling	jrior001
Xiaomi Mi 5	gemini	bgcngm, defer, h2o64
Xiaomi Mi 5s	capricorn	LuK1337
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus	natrium	LuK1337
Xiaomi Mi A1	tissot	flex1911, TheScarastic
Xiaomi Mi Mix	lithium	balika011, blunden
Xiaomi Mi Note 2	scorpio	joe2k01
Xiaomi Mi Note 3	jason	dianlujitao
Xiaomi Redmi 3S/X	land	Isaac Chen
Xiaomi Redmi 4/X	santoni	Isaac Chen
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4	mido	aryankedare
Yandex Phone	amber	HighwayStar, vm03

Much like LineageOS 17.1 builds, we should see more devices making their way onto the weekly LineageOS 16 build roster.

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Support LineageOS

LineageOS is and has always been a community effort, riding on the back of volunteers dedicating their own resources for the general good of the community. If you want to contribute to LineageOS, there are multiple ways to do so.

Becoming a device maintainer

The primary way you can help LineageOS grow to more devices is to maintain the ROM for devices that you can. If you’re a developer and would like to submit your device for official support, you can follow the instructions present over here. Once you submit, you’ll receive some feedback on your submission. If it’s up to par, you will be invited to Lineage’s communication channels, and your device resources will be forked to LineageOS’s official repository.

Providing translations

Alternatively, you can also provide translations for different languages through Crowdin. The team mentions that even if your language is not officially supported in Android, you can reach out to the team and they’ll take steps to include your language. However, the team requests that you should submit translations only if you have reasonable proficiency in the language.

Donations

Running automated builds for such a wide roster of devices takes resources. You can contribute towards some of these costs by donating to LineageOS through their PayPal or Patreon.

Donate to LineageOS: via PayPal ||| via Patreon

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This article was updated at 4:35 PM EST on April 10, 2020, to add the Google Nexus 6, Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, BQ Aquaris X, and BQ Aquaris X Pro to the list of devices with official LineageOS 17.1 builds.

The post LineageOS 17.1 based on Android 10 is now officially available appeared first on xda-developers.

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Google and Apple announce the Contact Tracing API and Bluetooth spec to warn users of COVID-19

Due to the ongoing threat posed by SARS-CoV-2, Google and Apple have teamed up to announce a new API and Bluetooth Low Energy specification called “Contact Tracing.” The idea behind contact tracing is to inform users if they’ve recently been in contact with someone who has been positively diagnosed with COVID-19. South Korea and Taiwan have successfully “flattened the curve,” as in they’ve limited the number of new cases to fall below the capacity of their healthcare systems, by implementing widespread testing and contact tracing. According to the Associated Press, several countries in Europe including the Czech Republic, the U.K., Germany, and Italy are developing their own contact tracing tools. Apple and Google hope to empower nations and medical organizations around the world with the ability to trace the spread of the novel coronavirus, but the two companies also recognize the potential privacy concerns with this pandemic containment method. That’s why the two companies have created the new API and Bluetooth spec “with user privacy and security central to the design.”

Google and Apple published blog posts and documents that outline their goals to roll out a new API and Bluetooth LE specification. Due to urgent need, both companies are tackling this problem in two stages. First, in May, both companies will release an API that “[enables] interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities.” These apps will be made available for users to download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Second, in the next few months, both Google and Apple will add support for a new Bluetooth Low Energy specification into Android and iOS. Google says that adding a Bluetooth LE Contact Tracing spec “is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities.”

Once an app integrates the new API or the BLE specification has been integrated into the OS, Android and iOS users can receive notifications if they’ve recently been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Notably, the BLE solution will not require the user to have an application installed, but if they choose to install one of the official apps, then the app can inform them on the next steps to take after they receive a notification. This will allow users to decide if they need to self-quarantine for 14 days or to seek testing and further medical intervention. Here is an example flow of what Google and Apple envision will be possible with this new Bluetooth LE spec:

An overview of COVID-19 contact tracing using Bluetooth Low Energy. Source: Google/Apple.

Here is what Google says about how they designed the new Android Contact Tracing API to protect user privacy and security:

• Apps calling the API via the startContactTracing method are required to get user consent to start contact tracing. If this is the first time the API is being invoked, the user will be shown a dialog asking for permission to start tracing.
• In order to be whitelisted to use this API, apps “will be required to timestamp and cryptographically sign the set of keys before delivery to the server with the signature of an authorized medical authority.” In other words, unauthorized COVID-19 apps will not be allowed to use this API.
• If the user uninstalls the app, the stopContactTracing method “will be automatically invoked and the database and keys will be wiped from the device.”
• The user, after having confirmed a positive diagnosis of COVID-19, must grant explicit consent to upload 14 days of daily tracing keys. A dialog will be shown to the user if the app calls the startSharingDailyTracingKeys method.
• Users will be shown what date and for how long they were in contact with a potentially contagious person, down to increments of 5 minutes, but not who or where the contact occurred.

Here is how the new Contact Detection Service BLE spec will protect user privacy and security:

• The spec does not require the user’s location or any other personally identifiable information. Location-use is completely optional and is only done after the user provides explicit consent.
• Rolling Proximity Identifiers are changed every 15 minutes on average, which makes it “unlikely that user location can be tracked via Bluetooth over time.”
• Proximity identifiers retrieved from other devices “are processed exclusively on device.” This means that the “list of people you’ve been in contact with never leaves your phone.”
• It’s up to the user to decide if they want to contribute to contact tracing. Users who are diagnosed with COVID-19 must consent to sharing Diagnosis Keys with the server. There will be transparency about the user’s participation in contact tracing, and “people who test positive are not identified to other users, Google, or Apple.” In fact, this information “will only be used for contact tracing by public health authorities for COVID-19 pandemic management.”
• In case you’re wondering, the Content Detection Service should not significantly drain the battery of a device if the hardware and the OS support “Bluetooth controller duplicate filters and other [hardware] filters” to “account for large volumes of advertisers in public spaces.” Scanning is “opportunistic,” meaning it can occur within existing wake and scan window cycles, but will also occur at a minimum of every 5 minutes.

Because the new Contact Tracing specs are designed with user privacy and security in mind, it’s debatable how effective they’ll be at limiting the spread of COVID-19. According to The Verge, such opt-in, non-invasive contact tracing measures may have limited effectiveness. The issues boil down to a lack of widespread adoption by the population and a potentially large number of false-positive Bluetooth proximity events. Still, I hope this new initiative is successful. It’s rare to see Google and Apple collaborate on anything, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Sources: Google Blog Post, Overview of COVID-19 Contact Tracing, Contact Tracing BLE Spec, Contact Tracing Cryptography Spec, Android Contact Tracing API Spec,

The post Google and Apple announce the Contact Tracing API and Bluetooth spec to warn users of COVID-19 appeared first on xda-developers.

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Latest Google App beta adds “Search Tools” filters and tests revamped Assistant settings

The Google App is a core part of Google Mobile Services because it contains Google Search, Google Discover, Google Podcasts, Google Assistant, and Google Lens. Google has packed so much into the app that there are always minor tweaks and A/B tests that we tend to gloss over. In the last few versions of the Google App beta, though, there have been some noticeable new features and design tweaks that we wanted to bring your attention to.

New Search Tools Filters

The first tweak we wanted to bring up, which was spotted earlier today by 9to5Google, is the addition of “Search Tools” in the mobile Google search site. If you open the search tab and enter a search query, you can scroll to the right until you see “Search Tools.” Here you can filter by time (Any Time, Past Hour, Past 24 Hours, Past Week, Past Month, or Past Year) or by results (All Results or Verbatim.) Previously, you had to open Google search in Google Chrome or another browser in order to search with these filters enabled.

These Search Tools filters are available with Google App beta version 11.4 but are not yet available in the stable channel.

Revamped Google Assistant Settings

Google Assistant settings in the Google App are currently split up into 4 separate tabs: You, Assistant, Services, and [Name’s] Home. In recent versions of the Google App, however, Google has been testing a rearranged version of the Assistant settings page that places all of the settings into a single column. 5 of the most frequently accessed settings are pinned to the top, however. These include Routines, Music, Basic info, Languages, and Voice Match. Below these 5 settings are two cards for “You” and “Devices” which link to their respective settings. Lastly, the remaining settings can be accessed by tapping on the “view more” button at the bottom.

Image credits: Abner Li @ 9to5Google

These rearranged Assistant settings have appeared for a few writers at 9to5Google, but they have not yet widely rolled out for those on the latest Google App beta version.

The post Latest Google App beta adds “Search Tools” filters and tests revamped Assistant settings appeared first on xda-developers.

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Android Version Distribution statistics will now only be available in Android Studio

For the longest time, Google would publish Android version distribution statistics on a dedicated webpage. However, the chart hasn’t been updated since May of 2019, and even then, May’s update happened 6 months after the last update. It’s clear by now that Google no longer plans to update that chart, but today we’ve learned that Google has another place where they show the version distribution statistics: Android Studio (via 9to5Google).

Developers can find the latest Android Platform/API Version Distribution statistics by creating a new project in Android Studio and then selecting “help me choose” under the minimum SDK dropdown.

The chart will help developers decide the right minimum SDK version for their application. For example, if you select “Android 6.0 Marshmallow” as the minimum SDK version, then Android Studio will inform you that your app will run on 84.9% of all devices. Similarly, if you select “Android 8.0 Oreo” as the minimum SDK version, then Android Studio will inform you that your app can run on 60.8% of all devices.

Based on this data, we can construct a table showing the distribution of Android OS versions.

Android Platform Version (API Level)	Distribution (as of April 10, 2020)
Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” (15)	0.2%
Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” (16)	0.6%
Android 4.2 “Jelly Bean” (17)	0.8%
Android 4.3 “Jelly Bean” (18)	0.3%
Android 4.4 “KitKat” (19)	4%
Android 5.0 “Lollipop” (21)	1.8%
Android 5.1 “Lollipop” (22)	7.4%
Android 6.0 “Marshmallow” (23)	11.2%
Android 7.0 “Nougat” (24)	7.5%
Android 7.1 “Nougat” (25)	5.4%
Android 8.0 “Oreo” (26)	7.3%
Android 8.1 “Oreo” (27)	14%
Android 9 “Pie” (28)	31.3%
Android 10 (29)	8.2%

It makes sense for Android version distribution to be shown in Android Studio since this data is really only useful for developers anyway.

The post Android Version Distribution statistics will now only be available in Android Studio appeared first on xda-developers.

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Fiskl Makes Handling Invoices and Expenses a Dream

Running your own business or working as a freelancer has many perks, but you won’t find accounting on the list of positives. Billing clients and recording expenses are essential tasks, but they can have you glued to your desk for hours every week. With Fiskl, you can invoice clients from your phone and capture expenses as you spend. The app even offers automatic time tracking. Right now, you can pick up a two-year subscription for $39.99 at XDA Developers Depot.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yYiSB9vBzgk

Available on iOS, Android, and as a web app, Fiskl does not look like most accounting software. This app has a sleek interface, and smart features to match. 

Fiskl lets you create beautiful customized invoices and email them to clients from anywhere. To speed up the process even more, Fiskl has a built-in timer. Whenever you add a new client to the app, you can start counting your billable hours with a tap. 

Fiskl supports ACH or direct bank transfer to keep fees down, and you can invoice clients in 150 different currencies. You can view your income in graphs, and track whenever payments are overdue. In addition, the app allows you to capture expenses by taking a photo of your receipts.

These features and more have no-doubt helped Fiskl net an impressive 4.9-star rating on the App Store and 4.5 stars on Google Play.

Two years on the Plus plan is normally $480, but you can get your subscription now for just $39.99.

 

Fiskl Mobile Invoicing App Subscriptions – $39.99

See Deal

Prices subject to change

The post Fiskl Makes Handling Invoices and Expenses a Dream appeared first on xda-developers.

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Google rebrands Hangouts Chat to just “Google Chat”

Google’s confusing usage of the “Hangouts” branding for enterprise G Suite products has officially come to an end. After Hangouts Meet was renamed to simply “Google Meet,” the Hangouts Chat service is now similarly named “Google Chat.” Surprising to no one, this is yet another confusing move in Google’s history with messaging services.

The Hangouts chat service was launched all the way back in 2013 as a replacement to Google Talk (often called “GChat”). Now, it seems things have come full circle as Hangouts Chat adopts a name that harkens back to those old GChat days. Google has been slowly walking back the Hangouts brand for a while now and the Google Chat rebrand is just the latest move.

The Google Chat rebrand was spotted in support documents, the US trademark office, and was finally confirmed to The Verge. Besides sounding like an ancient messaging service that Google abandoned many years ago, the Google Chat name also shouldn’t be confused with Google’s RCS protocol named “Chat.” The vaguely named “Chat” standard is what gets enabled when you have RCS support in the Messages app.

The Hangouts brand is not completely dead yet. The consumer version of the Hangouts “classic” chat app retains the name. Hangouts Chat, now Google Chat, is more of a Slack-competitor than the old messaging app it used to be. Google has slowly been transitioning G Suite users from Hangouts “classic” to Google Chat. That migration is set to be complete by “no sooner than June 2020.”

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