Key Points:
- Force-stopping apps in Android 15 disables their home screen widgets.
- Widgets become greyed out and unusable until the app restarts.
- Relaunching the app directly or indirectly (through sharing) is necessary for widget functionality.
Ever felt the need to forcefully shut down a misbehaving app on your Android phone? While this can often resolve temporary glitches, it hasn’t typically affected home screen widgets associated with the app. However, Android 15 introduces a significant change in this behavior.
Going Grey: Widgets on Lockdown
According to Google’s updated developer website, force-stopping an app in Android 15 now temporarily disables all its widgets. This means the widgets will be greyed out and rendered unusable until the app is relaunched. This change stems from the operating system canceling all “pending intents” associated with the force-stopped app. These intents essentially represent scheduled tasks or actions that the app was supposed to carry out in the background.
The rationale behind this change is to ensure consistency between the app’s state and its widgets. By disabling widgets, Android 15 prevents them from displaying outdated or incorrect information if the app is no longer running in the background.
Relaunching the App: Bringing Widgets Back to Life
There are two ways to re-enable the disabled widgets:
- Direct Relaunch: Simply tap on the app icon on your home screen to directly launch the app.
- Indirect Relaunch: If you’re using another app and have the option to share content with a specific app (e.g., sharing an article with your news app), selecting the force-stopped app will
- indirectly launch it, thereby reactivating its widgets.
Developer Considerations
For Android developers, Google recommends using the new “ApplicationStartInfo.wasForceStopped()” method to determine if the operating system has put their app into a stopped state. This allows developers to tailor the app’s behavior accordingly, potentially informing users about the disabled widgets and prompting them to relaunch the app.
A Glimpse into Android 15’s Behavioral Shifts
This change regarding force-stopped apps and their widgets is just one of the many behavioral shifts planned for Android 15. The new operating system will introduce limitations on foreground services, offering developers more granular control over background processes.
