Google officially unveils new note-taking features for Android in Android 15

Android tablets have large screens, making them great devices for taking notes, especially if you have a keyboard and a stylus. However, on many Android tablets, you have to unlock the device first to launch a note-taking app like Google Keep, which can kill your productivity. Luckily, Android will soon make it easier to take notes on your tablet. In the upcoming Android 15 update, you’ll be able to set a default note-taking app that can not only launch from the lock screen, but also insert screen captures.

At last month’s Google I/O developer conference, the company gave a presentation sharing tips on how developers can “make users more productive with larger screens and accessories.” During the presentation, Android Developer Relations Engineer Miguel Montemayor discussed the “new Notes role” in Android. He explained that the Notes role gives users quick access to their favorite note-taking app from any screen, so they can jot down ideas or take notes without switching apps.

Users can choose their preferred default note-taking app from the following: Settings > Apps > Default apps > Default Notes appThe default Notes app can be launched by long-pressing the shortcut on the lock screen, which will open the Notes app without having to unlock the device, or you can press the tail button on a compatible USI stylus to open the Notes app in a floating window on top of other apps.

By default, most of the existing note-taking apps are not set as the default note-taking app on Android. As a note-taking app developer, you need to do a few things to register your app. First, create or modify one of your app’s activities to CREATE_NOTE Configure the intent that Android will send when the user presses and holds the lock screen shortcut or taps the tail button of the stylus. Then: CREATE_NOTE Show on Lock and Keep Screen On Intents: These attributes allow your app to launch from the lock screen and keep the device screen on.

Google also advises developers: CREATE_NOTE The intention is EXTRA_USE_STYLUS_MODE extra is set to true. If so, the user has pressed the tail button on the stylus to launch a note-taking app, which means the user wants to use the stylus to take notes. You should respond by launching a note that accepts stylus input and allows the user to immediately start drawing with their finger or stylus.

But more importantly, note app developers are encouraged to check if their app is launched from the lock screen, and if so, to protect user privacy, previous notes will not be displayed unless the user explicitly consents to displaying them. Developers should implement the KeyguardManager’s isKeyGuardLocked() How to do this and prompt the user to unlock the device to get full access to history notes requestDismissKeyguard(...) Methods in the same class.

Finally, Google explained the Content Capture feature for Notes apps. Content Capture is a feature that allows you to insert screen captures in the default Notes app on Android. Developers can add a button or other UI affordance to launch the new Content Capture activity for Notes in SystemUI. Users can then capture all or part of the screen, save it as an image in a note, and annotate it. In SystemUI, only the default Notes app can launch the Content Capture activity for Notes, which is one of the reasons why Notes app developers are encouraged to update their apps.

Google has been talking about Notes roles and the Content Capture API as if they were new, but they were actually introduced in last year’s Android 14 release. However, in Android 14, Notes roles are disabled by default. Users can now use them without having to worry about them being removed. Settings > System > Developer options “Forcing a Notes role to take effect” In order to make theDefault note-taking app” option will appear in your default apps.

It’s not clear why Google decided to wait until this year to announce the new notes feature on Android. One reason could be that they didn’t want to release it until the Google Keep team was ready to support it. Fortunately, we’ve known for some time that Google Keep is preparing to support the new notes feature on Android, so it’s just a matter of time before the feature becomes available in Keep. In the latest Android 15 Beta 2 release for Pixel tablets, the notes role is still disabled, but considering that Google talked about the feature at I/O without saying anything about it being a developer preview, it’s likely to be enabled by default in a future stable release.