In January we heard about a new and interesting feature that comes in Android 12: “application hibernation”, which would automatically place long unused applications in optimized storage, thus freeing up storage on your phone. The feature has not been seen in any of the preview versions for Android 12 developers so far, but it seems to be just around the corner. Feature references have already been identified in the AOSP code and now appear in Android 12 versions.
The hibernation function works in a similar way to applications that revoke their permissions after long periods of non-use, but it is much more direct. XDA managed to run on the last version of Android 12 last week, showing that a new “Unused apps” section will be added to the app information settings menu, replacing the “Remove permissions if app is not used” switch available in present in the Application Permissions screen. It looks like it will take three months (or so) for Android to report an app as unused; the operator then has the option to automatically set them to this state.
When it is declared unused, an app will have its permissions revoked for practical security reasons (such as Android 11 behavior), notifications will be disabled, and temporary files (probably caches and the like) will be deleted to free up space. Probably these applications could be reactivated extremely quickly, because otherwise there would be no advantage over simply uninstalling them.
Unused application menu screen captured by XDA-Developers.
I could see that this is a useful feature for that “once in a blue month” instrument, such as the extremely rare rides on Lyft that I use during tech shows and about twice a year. Of course, it will be a major advantage for anyone using a phone with a small amount of available storage space. But, as always with future and unconfirmed Android features, there is at least a chance that it will not reach the final version of Android 12.
