Mastodawn

Before you comment, "you can already pause them!" no, you can't. My article has evidence showing the difference between work profile behavior in Android 13 vs Android 14.

The text in the launcher is misleading, and all the documentation that says so needs to be updated.

Why should you care? Well it means your work profile contacts are IDed, so you'll know when you're getting a call from your boss/colleagues even when the work profile is paused. Also, you'll never show up as offline to work colleagues, per Android Enterprise expert Jason Bayton.

This might also have some implications on battery life, but it's hard to say without proper testing.

Whether you show as offline to work colleagues could I guess be set on a schedule or manually in-app, like on Slack. I guess it'd depend on the app/service in question.

IMPORTANT UPDATE

A spokesperson for Google reached out to me with some feedback for the article. They confirmed the main change - that Android 14 now pauses instead of turns off the work profile - but also wanted to correct some things.

Below, I will summarize as best I can what they said and my/Jason's response. I submitted an updated version of the Android Police article, so you can alternatively re-read that.

* In case it wasn't clear (or you didn't see the screenshot), notifications WILL STILL NOT SHOW UP when the work profile is paused. That hasn't changed. Instead, the way notifications are handled has been improved for the better. Before, you might get a flood of notifications when turning the work profile on because all your work profile apps would start syncing. In Android 14, your notifications will already be ready for you to view when you unpause the work profile.

(One user told me they still received notifications on their Garmin watch when the work profile is paused in Android 14, but this could be a bug.)

* Work profile apps in Android 14 CANNOT access your location while the profile is paused. In Android 13, when the work profile is turned off, the launcher states that "your work apps can't send you notifications, use your battery, or access your location." In Android 14, this was changed to "you won't receive notifications from your work apps." I thought that this change in wording to remove "use your battery" or "access your location" implied that both would now be possible.

(I told Google it might be a good idea to reintroduce the notice in the launcher that work apps can't access your location.)

* Regarding whether this change means you'll always appear online now, Google says the responsibility lies with individual app devs in determining a user's online status. Previously, it wasn't possible for work profile apps to run a check for whether the work profile is paused...because the work profile was turned off so no apps could run.

In Android 14, though, developers can check whether the work profile is paused by seeing if their apps are "suspended" through the PM.isPackageSuspended() API or the ACTION_MY_PACKAGE_SUSPENDED broadcast.

(Though Google didn't explicitly say it, this implies that Android 14 now suspends apps in the work profile using the same APIs that Digital Wellbeing uses to suspend apps for Focus Mode.)

Jason brings up that some apps determine your online status through periodic check ins to their server, so unless these apps (Teams?) update to utilize these APIs, then you may indeed appear as online even when you aren't and the work profile is paused. The burden is on app developers.

* Lastly, Google wanted to highlight how this change helps users stay compliant with a company's update policy. Previously when the work profile was turned off, apps couldn't get any updates, which could be a problem if the user goes on an extended vacation and never turns the work profile back on during this time. In Android 14, apps in the work profile can continue to receive updates even when the profile is paused.

Andrew Melder Jul 20, 2023

@MishaalRahman thanks for the detailed reporting.

To me this is very disappointing. One of the big benefits of Androids work profile for me was that the apps were off and not paused. This seems like a very backwards step.

Farshid Hakimy / فرشید Jul 19, 2023

@MishaalRahman
but how would that work?
The apps probably still have Internet access if it's possible to appear as "online" with Android 14.
You can already track the phones location via it's IP address.

aa Jul 19, 2023

@MishaalRahman this sounds like it’s gonna ruin Island

Sven Rohweder Jul 18, 2023

@MishaalRahman is it possible to stop the work profile if you want to be offline from work?

@rowi On Android 14, you'd have to use an ADB command to do that.

Kunal Agrawal Jul 19, 2023

@MishaalRahman @rowi

Isn't this kinda making the entire idea of Work Profile useless? I love the ability to just suspend the entire profile when I am not at work.

But I'm guessing it's probably a part of work where other profiles are not locked out if the Device restarts and the primary profile hasn't been unlocked yet.

joba Jul 18, 2023

@MishaalRahman hi i think it looks very nice keep it up👍