Google LLC today launched a new round-number release of Android Go, the version of its mobile operating system targeted at low-powered handsets, with big performance improvements and expanded privacy controls.

Android Go is an important part of the search giant’s strategy to grow its mobile installed base. The operating system was launched in 2018 and has already shipped with more than 100 million entry-level devices worldwide, according to the search giant.

Android 11 Go, the new release announces today, launches apps 20% faster than before. That’s partly the result of an increase in the amount of device memory the operating system can work with. Google has boosted the maximum amount of RAM handset makers may include in an Android Go device from 1.5 gigabytes to 2 gigabytes, extra capacity that apps can draw on to speed up the initial loading process.

The other benefit of the RAM increase is that more apps can run in the background at once. Up to four additional background services are supported, according to Google. 

Privacy was another focus for the search giant when developing Android 11 Go. It has brought over a privacy feature called one-time permissions from the new version of standard Android, Android 11, which also launched this week. One-time permissions are a way for users to limit how much information is collected by apps that request access to sensitive data such as location. 

“If you haven’t used an app for an extended period of time, app permissions will ‘auto-reset’ and you will immediately receive a notification of the change,” Sagar Kamdar, the vice president of product management for Android, explained in a blog post today.

Also among the improvements introduced with Android 11 Go is an expanded interface. There’s a new tab where users can view messages from multiple chat apps in one place instead of having to toggle among them manually. For cases when a user still wishes to toggle among apps the old-fashioned way, Google has added swipe-based navigation gestures that can speed up the task.

Android 11 Go’s expanded feature set is partly a reflection of the fact that low-end handsets are becoming more powerful, allowing them to support increasingly sophisticated capabilities. The list of supported capabilities is set to soon include 5G. Qualcomm Inc., a major chip supplier to the Android ecosystem, said recently that 5G support will arrive next year in its Snapdragon 4 processors for low-end handsets. 

Images: Google