Android work profiles provide a convenient way to separate your work and personal life on your smartphone. When this feature is enabled, work and personal apps appear under two different tabs within the app drawer. Work apps feature a small briefcase badge to distinguish themselves from personal apps.
Right now, however, the work profile feature is only available for managed devices. But that’s set to change as Google plans to bring the feature to unmanaged Google Workspace devices, meaning you won’t have to be reliant on your employer to turn it on for your device.
In a blog post on Thursday, Google announced that it’s planning to expand the availability of Android work profiles to unmanaged users with a Google Workspace account.
“Previously, the work profile was only available on managed devices. Now, we’re planning to bring those same work profile benefits to unmanaged users with a business identity, too. This will eventually allow anyone using Android for business purposes to separate work and personal apps in one interface and pause all work-related apps in one click,” Google said in a blog post.
Google says users will be able to separate work and personal apps in one interface as well as pause all work-related apps with a single click. Android work profile feature will be available to unmanaged Google Workspace users starting next year, “with plans to expand to more identity providers soon after.”
We recently learned that Android 12 adds a new profile type, called Clone, that will enable app cloning support on devices running Android 12 and above. With the new Clone profile, users will be able to run three instances of the same app simultaneously.
Google also recently expanded Android work profile support to Android Auto, allowing users to access their work apps right from the Android Auto dashboard without having to reach for their phone.
