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Android 15 is coming with several behavioral changes, one reportedly related to force-stop functionality. As you may know, when a particular Android app keeps nagging you or behaves weirdly, you tend to try clearing the app from memory by swiping the app card up from the Recent Apps section.
However, another alternative method is to kill the app completely by using the force stop feature. Force-stopping an app kills all the background activity, but the widgets related to the app remain unaffected and work fine.
Using the force stop function in Android 15 will temporarily disable the app’s home screen widgets
You may think, what’s wrong with it? Well, there’s a possibility that an app could be behaving weirdly due to the widget itself. And, in such cases killing an app by using the force stop method isn’t effective. Therefore, Android 15 will address this issue effectively. Today, Android Police reported that Google has recently updated the Android 15 behavior changes section of its developer website.
The section highlights when you force-stop an app, all the widgets related to it will be temporarily disabled “as the OS will terminate or cancel the app’s pending intent.” That’s not all, the related widgets will be grayed out on the home screen. As a result, the widgets won’t restart until you launch the app directly or indirectly.
This behavioral change may not directly affect you
It is a major behavioral change in Android 15 and will define how apps will function even if it may not directly affect you. As we mentioned earlier, one of the reasons behind a misbehaving app could be its widgets. Since many Android apps you may use don’t come with home screen widgets, you may not face this issue.
However, if there’s one that has widgets, the new changes offer peace of mind. With this change, Google wants to ensure that the force stop function remains effective for users in Android 15. That’s why Google wants app developers to use the new “ApplicationStartInfo.wasForceStopped()” method to confirm whether the operating system puts the app into the stop state.
Not to forget, Android 15 comes with several other behavioral changes, too. For example, apps will be able to run the “dataSync” foreground service for a maximum of 6 hours in a 24-hour window. Moreover, the next big Android update will include security features like Private Space, Theft Detection Lock, and more.