Google could be bringing lock screen widgets back with Android 15

If you're someone who uses an Android phone or tablet and wishes that you could put your home screen widgets on the lock screen, you probably aren't alone. Now that iPhone and iPad users can do that, people might wish they could do it on Android - and back in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean that was a possibility. But the feature was pulled as part of Android 5 Lollipop, and a new report suggests it might be back with Android 15.

Writing for Android Authority, Mishaal Rehman says that he has been able to get the lock screen widgets working on a Pixel Tablet in what appears to be a new so-called communal space. Here, widgets can be added assuming that they have the right configuration - something that only seems to be the case for a limited number of Google widgets right now.

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The testing was done on a Pixel Tablet running Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 and it's thought that Google is still in the early days of working things out, something that might explain why things aren't working so great at the moment. But that isn't the most interesting thing here - the report suggests that Google might be about to limit the new feature to devices with larger displays, like the Pixel Tablet.

If that is indeed the case, it would be a big miss for Android phone owners. However, it's thought that Google could be aiming the lock screen widgets at devices that can be used in hub mode. Hub mode turns docked Pixel Tablets into smart displays of a sort, a situation when lock screen widgets make the most sense.