Harman Patil (Editor)

Android Marshmallow

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Developer
  
Google

Official website
  
Official website

Succeeded by
  
Android 7.x "Nougat"

Android Marshmallow

General availability
  
October 5, 2015; 16 months ago (2015-10-05)

Latest release
  
6.0.1 (MOB31S) / January 23, 2017; 38 days ago (2017-01-23)

Preceded by
  
Android 5.1.1 "Lollipop"

Android 6.0 – 6.0.1 "Marshmallow" (codenamed Android M during development) is the sixth major version of the Android operating system. First released as a beta build on May 28, 2015, it was officially released on October 5, 2015, with Nexus devices being the first to receive the update.

Contents

Marshmallow primarily focuses on improving the overall user experience of its predecessor, Lollipop It introduced a new permissions architecture, new APIs for contextual assistants (first used by a new feature "Now on Tap" to provide context-sensitive search results), a new power management system that reduces background activity when a device is not being physically handled, native support for fingerprint recognition and USB Type-C connectors, the ability to migrate data and applications to a microSD card, and other internal changes.

As of December 2016, 24% of devices accessing Google Play run Android 6.0.

History

The developer preview build, codenamed Android "M", was unveiled and released at Google I/O 2015 on May 28, 2015, for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 phones, Nexus 9 tablet, and Nexus Player set-top box, under the build number MPZ44Q. The third developer preview under build number MPA44G was released on August 17, 2015, later updated to MPA44I, and brought fixes related to Android for Work profiles. "Marshmallow" was officially announced as the release's name the same day.

On September 29, 2015, Google unveiled launch devices for Marshmallow: the LG Electronics-produced Nexus 5X, the Huawei-produced Nexus 6P, and the in-house Pixel C tablet. Android 6.0 updates and factory images for Nexus 5, 6, 7 (2013), 9, and Player were released on October 5, 2015, with over-the-air updates following shortly after. Older Nexus devices, such as the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (2012) and Nexus 10 did not receive an official update. On October 14, 2015, LG announced that it planned to release Marshmallow for its flagship LG G4 in Poland the following week, marking the first third-party device to receive an update to Marshmallow.

The Android 6.0.1 patch was released for Nexus devices on December 7, 2015. It features security patches, as well as support for Unicode 8.0 emoji (although not supporting the skin tone extensions for human emoji), and the restoration of the "until next alarm" feature in Do Not Disturb mode.

User experience

A new "Assist" API allows information from a currently-opened app, including text and a screenshot of the current screen, to be sent to a designated "assistant" application for analysis and processing. This system is used by the Google Search app feature "Google Now on Tap", which allows users to perform searches within the context of information currently being displayed on-screen. By holding the "Home" button or using a voice command, on-screen cards are generated which display information, suggestions, and actions related to the content. "Direct Share" allows Share menus to display recently used combinations of contacts and an associated app as direct targets.

A newly inserted SD card or other secondary storage media can be designated as either "portable" or "internal" storage. "Portable" maintains the default behavior of previous Android versions, treating the media as a secondary storage device for storage of user files, and the storage media can be removed or replaced without repercussions, but is subject to access restrictions by apps. When designated as "Internal" storage, the storage media is reformatted with an encrypted ext4 file system, and is "adopted" by the operating system as the primary storage partition. Existing data (including applications and "private" data folders) are migrated to the external storage, and normal operation of the device becomes dependent on the presence of the media. Apps and operating system functions will not function properly if the adopted storage device is removed. If the user loses access to the storage media, the adopted storage can be "forgotten", which makes the data permanently inaccessible. Samsung and LG have, however, removed the ability to use an SD card as "internal" storage on their Galaxy S7 and G5 devices, with Samsung arguing that the feature could result in unexpected losses of data, and prevents users from being able to transfer data using the card.

Platform

Android Marshmallow introduces a redesigned application permission model: there are now only eight permission categories, and applications are no longer automatically granted all of their specified permissions at installation time. An opt-in system is now used, in which users are prompted to grant or deny individual permissions (such as the ability to access the camera or microphone) to an application when they are needed for the first time. Applications remember the grants, which can be revoked by the user at any time. The new permission model is used only by applications compiled for Marshmallow using its software development kit (SDK), and older apps will continue to use the previous all-or-nothing permission model. Permissions can still be revoked for those apps, though this might prevent them from working properly, and a warning is displayed to that effect.

Marshmallow introduces new power management schemes known as "Doze" and "App Standby"; when running on battery power, a device will enter a low-power state if it is inactive and not being physically handled. In this state, network connectivity and background processing is restricted, and only "high-priority" notifications are processed. Additionally, network access by apps is deferred if the user has not recently interacted with the app. Apps may request a permission to exempt themselves from these policies, but will be rejected from Google Play Store as a violation of its "Dangerous Products" policy if their core functionality is not "adversely affected" by them.

Android Marshmallow provides native support for fingerprint recognition on supported devices via a standard API, allowing third-party applications to implement fingerprint-based authentication. Fingerprints can be used for unlocking devices and authenticating Play Store and Android Pay purchases. Android Marshmallow supports USB Type-C, including the ability to instruct devices to charge another device over USB. Marshmallow also introduces "verified links" that can be configured to open directly in their specified application without further user prompts. User data for apps targeting Marshmallow can be automatically backed up to Google Drive over Wi-Fi. Each application receives up to 25 MB of storage, which is separate from a user's Google Drive storage allotment.

As of Marshmallow, the Android Compatibility Definition Document contains new security mandates for devices, dictating that those that are capable of accessing encrypted data without affecting performance must enable Secure boot and device encryption by default. These conditions comprise part of a specification that must be met in order to be certified for the operating system, and be able to license Google Mobile Services software. The requirement for mandatory device encryption was originally intended to take effect on Lollipop, but was delayed due to performance issues.

References

Android Marshmallow Wikipedia