Android’s Private Space feature is ideal for keeping things hidden from whatever prying eyes may be around. But unfortunately the system is far from perfect, and it can be tricky to transfer files and information into the private partition.
Thankfully, we’ve just caught word that Google may be about to fix things.
According to Mishaal Rahman over at Android Authority, Google is working on a new Private Space file transfer feature. On top of that, Google seems to have changed how Private Space operates in the latest Android Canary build.
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At the moment transferring files to Private Space can be done in one of two ways: Either you download them from a Private Space-installed app, directly into the partition, or you use Android’s sharing feature to send over a copy.
Obviously neither is particularly obvious, and the latter means needing to delete the original files to maintain that privacy. Which is a huge pain.
How will this change Private Space?
According to Rahman there will now be a dedicated button to make this happen. Google seems to be replacing the “Install” button with an “Add” button.
So rather than taking users directly to Google Play, it’ll open up a menu that lets you decide whether to go to the app store or Google’s Files app.
The Files app will then let you switch into the “Personal” tab, which gives you access to all the files on your phone’s main partition. From here, you’re given the option to move or copy the files to Private Space. My guess is the former will remove the original from the personal partition, while copying means you end up with two — one on each section of the phone.
Rahman also notes the transfer does seem to be limited to either 100 files or 2GB at a time. Anything bigger, and you may have to opt for an alternate transfer method. Assuming Google doesn’t up this limit at some point between now and release.
We’re not sure when the release will be, aside from the fact it’s not in Android 16’s QPR beta 1. Rahman speculates it may arrive in the next quarterly update, QPR2 beta, before we can actually take advantage.
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