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We’re at a point right now where we are starting to get a good glimpse of some of Android 15’s potential functionality. With the developer preview in circulation, developers and engineers are viewing what’s to come with Android’s new version. Trusty Android engineer Mishaal Rahmen just revealed one of Android 15 more exciting features. He showed a video of the app archiving feature coming to Android 15.
A little while back, we got the news that Google is working on an app archiving feature for Android 15. App archiving is not new, as the concept has been around for more than half a decade. You’ll be familiar with this if you knew about the Nextbit Robin that came out back in 2015.
When an app is archived, its data is uploaded to the cloud and deleted from your device. The app icon remains on your device, however. When you want to use that app again, you simply have to tap on the app icon and redownload the data. You will be able to pick up where you left off.
This is a method of saving space on a device without deleting important data. Android has an app archiving feature, but it is handled through the Google Play Store. So, your experience isn’t as intuitive as Apple’s App Offload feature which is handled through iOS. Also, if you happen to have downloaded an app from a third-party app store, you will not be able to archive them.
Here’s a video of the app archiving feature and Android 15
Since we are talking about an unreleased version of Android, you are going to want to take this news with a grain of salt. Google is still working on the feature, so it could either look differently, perform differently, or be canceled altogether between now and the official launch of Android 15. You’re going to want to keep that in mind.
In the video, we see Rahman archiving the Uber app. The overall process of archiving an app is very simple and straightforward. What you will do is go to the info screen of the app you want to archive. Depending on the device you’re using, the screen will look different. In the video, we see how it will look on stock Android.
In the top row of options, we see the Archive app option. This will then start uploading the app data to the cloud. After that point, the app’s icon will be grayed out. To restore the app, you simply have to tap on the grayed-out icon or the Restore function on the info screen.
The difference between archiving apps and uninstalling
If you’re struggling to see the difference between archiving and uninstalling apps, here’s a quick rundown. When you uninstall an app, you remove everything from your device completely. This means that, if you have to reinstall it, you have to repeat the setup and login process from scratch. Also, you’ll lose all of your progress if it’s not saved to the cloud.
However, app archiving is different. When you restore an archived app that you were signed in to, you will still be signed in to that account when you restore it. So, you don’t have to worry about losing data, losing progress, or being signed out of accounts. When you restore an archived app, you pick up right where you left off.