Google has announced a LOT of new fraud and scam protection features for Android 15 and Google Play. These include:

- OTP redaction in notifications. OTPs are now hidden from untrusted notification listeners. Wearable companion apps will still be able to read OTPs, though.

- Notification, OTP, and login redaction during screen sharing. During screen sharing, private notification content, apps that post OTPs, and pages where you enter credentials will be automatically protected from remote viewers.

- Partial screen sharing. This was technically introduced on Pixel with Android 14 QPR2, but Google’s mentioning it here because it’s coming to other devices in Android 15. Coming later: A more prominent screen indicator while screen sharing.

- Expanded Restricted Settings. Google is expanding restricted settings, a feature that requires additional user approval to enable permissions when installing an app from an Internet-sideloading source (like a web browser or file manager). (I previously reported on Enhanced Confirmation Mode in Android 15; I believe Google is referring to this.)

- Cellular cipher transparency. As I previously reported, Android 15 will notify you if your cellular network connection is unencrypted which could expose SMS and voice traffic to interception. Requires OEM integration and compatible hardware.

- Identifier disclosure transparency. Android 15 will alert you if a potential false cellular base station (stingray) is recording their location using a device identifier. Requires OEM integration and compatible hardware.

- Live threat detection through Google Play Protect. This uses on-device AI to analyze behavioral signals related to the use of sensitive permissions and interactions with other apps and services. Suspicious apps are sent to Google for additional review; Play Protect will then warn the user or disable the app if malicious behavior is confirmed. This feature is coming to Pixel, OPPO, Honor, Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, Transsion, Sharp, and other manufacturers.

Wear OS 5 is coming later this year, so today, Google’s launching a Developer Preview so you can prepare.

Wear OS 5 is based on Android 14 and brings some notable battery life improvements. Workout tracking is more power efficient, with Google saying marathon runs consume up to 20% less power than on Wear OS 4.

The Watch Face Format (WFF), introduced in Wear OS 4, is seeing some improvements in Wear OS 5. Flavors are now supported; these are preset configurations for watch faces available in the companion app. “Goal progress” and “weighted elements” complication types are now supported. Lastly, weather and forecast data can now be used as data sources.

To encourage adoption of the WFF, Wear OS 5 will apply restrictions to some data sources used by complications on watch faces built with the legacy AndroidX or Wearable Support Library APIs. Also, in early 2025, all new watch faces published on Google Play must use the WFF.

Health Services in Wear OS 5 is introducing new data types for running (ground contact time, stride length, vertical oscillation, vertical ratio) and support debounced goals for instantaneous metrics (like heart rate, distance, and speed). Debounced goals mean that events are only emitted if the threshold has been continuously exceeded for a number of seconds.

Version 1.3 of Jetpack Compose for Wear OS graduates a number of visual improvements and fixes from beta to stable.

Version 1.4 of the Jetpack Tiles library (in alpha) will introduce preview support for Android Studio so you can quickly iterate on your Tile development.

Apps can now determine whether their tiles are in use through the getActiveTilesAsync() method.

Android Studio Koala Feature Drop (Canary) adds a new sensor panel that makes it easier to test Health Services. You can mock the capabilities of the device or sensor values.