One major features that Android users have been clamoring for is multi-user support. While one could argue that smartphones are a personal device, the same argument cannot be made for tablets. Much as it already works on operating systems such as Windows or Mac OS X, this feature would allow different users to customize the device to their liking without interfering with the preferences of others.
It now appears that Google is working on getting multi-user support ready for a future release. Digging into the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean source code, AndroidPolice has found evidence that a lot of code is already in place to support this functionality. It looks like Google began to check in code into the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) as far back as April 2011. Since then, it has gradually been adding the necessary foundations such as user specific app data directories and separating settings such as default applications, home screen widgets, and language settings to be user specific.
Much work remains to be done though. All of the user interface to support such functionality still has to be built. For example, users will need a way to switch between users, screens and tools to manage different users (adding, changing and deleting them), and more.
It all looks very promising! Let’s hope that multi-user support is a key feature of the next major version of Google Android.
Read more: AndroidPolice