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Transcript

Please excuse any grammatical errors. I used a tool to generate the transcript and haven’t had a chance to read through it yet.

Android 15 has recently reached the stable release channel on GrapheneOS, so if you’re watching this video, you likely have it installed on your device. In this video, I want to cover a few visual changes I noticed along with a couple of new features. If you’ve found something new, feel free to share it in the comments below!

The first change is the password authentication popup. When opening an incognito tab in Vanadium, you won’t see it due to screen recording limitations, but the old popup was shorter and boxier, while the new one is taller with curved edges. Not a huge change, but personally, I preferred the shorter style. Now, let’s switch back to the regular tab.

Next up is a convenient product placement! My new podcast, In the Shell, launched a few months ago. It’s all about hackers, malware, and the tech shaping our world. Season 1 dives into the infamous worms that have flooded the internet over the past decades. You can check it out at intheshellpodcast.com.

Another visual change is in the volume slider. Hitting the three dots at the bottom reveals more rounded visuals, giving your phone a more “curvaceous” look. Functionally, not much has changed; you can still select the audio output device, but everything else remains the same.

Now, let’s talk about tiles at the top. If you go to Bluetooth, there’s a new option to automatically turn it on tomorrow. This feature might be geared toward the “Find My Device” functionality. It’s handy if you want to disable Bluetooth today but don’t want to forget to turn it on tomorrow. I think this mirrors a similar feature in iOS, though I personally don’t use it.

A feature I recently discovered is split-screen functionality on phones, which also works on Android 14 and Android 15. To use it, open the first app, swipe up, tap the app icon, and choose “Split screen.” Then, select the second app—let’s use Vanadium—and adjust the screen space each app takes. In Android 15, if you swipe up and tap both icons, you’ll now see a ‘Save app pair’ option, letting you create a shortcut to open both apps together. I’ve used split-screen for copying passwords from my password manager to a browser.

Next is app archiving. If you long-press on an app and go to “App Info,” there’s an archive option. If you don’t have the Play Store in the user profile, the option is grayed out. This feature replaces the app APK with a smaller archived version while preserving user data, freeing up space without deleting your data. Personally, I don’t see a need for it, as my storage usage is low.

Lastly, there’s the Private Space feature, which many are excited about. However, it’s only available in the owner profile. Here’s a quick overview—I’ll do a full video on it soon. To set it up, go to Settings > Security and Privacy > Private Space, enter your PIN, and set up a separate lock if you like. Private Space creates an isolated workspace for apps and data with its own VPN settings and encryption. This can be useful if you want separate environments, like using Orbot in the owner profile and Mullvad in Private Space. I recommend using Private Space over work profiles for better integration and isolation.

That wraps up this overview. I’ll be back with a more in-depth look at Private Space soon, but if you have questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Thanks for watching!