Hibernation of unused apps may become one of the major features in Android 12. This information comes from XDA Developers, as some indications of the feature surfaced.
The source has been digging through the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) Gerrit to find some new, upcoming features. In the code, this hibernation feature was spotted.
Hibernation of unused apps may be possible in Android 12
Google seems to be adding a new app hibernation system service “that manages app hibernation state, a state apps can enter that means they are not being actively used and can be optimized for storage.”
Those are all the details that we have at the moment. It is not clear how apps can enter that state, it may be automatic. It would be great if users could manually do it, though, that would give us a lot of control.
It’s also unknown how will users be able to tell which apps are hibernated. Perhaps they’ll be presented differently on the phone, or maybe even removed from the app drawer. We’ll have to wait and see.
Still, chances are that this feature will be automatic. This may be a part of how will Android 12 run and optimize itself, essentially. Some more information may surface in the near future.
The very first Android 12 Developer Preview may land next month
In fact, we may see some indications of this feature in the upcoming Developer Preview. Believe it or not, but the very first Android 12 Developer Preview will probably land in the near future.
The first Android 11 Developer Preview was released in February last year. So, if Google plans to stick to that schedule, we’ll get the first Android 12 Developer Preview sometime next month.
Android 12 probably won’t be a major revamp of Android, as we’re more or less past that point. Google will simply look to introduce some useful new features, and quality of life updates.
Android 11 is a great operating system, and there’s really no need to change anything drastically. Chances are we’ll see quite a few indications of new features / changes in the near future. Prior to the arrival of the first Developer Previews, such chances usually come to the surface, like the one we’re talking about here.