Android 15's Private Space has a major WearOS woe

Key Takeaways

• A strange issue has popped up where notifications from Private Space apps appear on connected Wear OS devices.
• Some of the notifications appear with the work profile icon on devices with no work profile set up.
• Google has acknowledged the issue and is currently working on a fix.

Android 15's Private Space feature is great. However, you may want to be cautious with it until Google resolves a known issue with Private Space and Wear OS .

Related

How to set up and use Private Space in Android 15

Work and play, separated safely

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Google recently acknowledged an issue with notifications between Wear OS devices and Android 15 devices using the Private Space feature (via 9to5Google). Some users are encountering a glitch where notifications from Private Space apps are unexpectedly appearing on paired Wear OS devices, rather publicly.

This isn't how Private Space is supposed to work

Private Space is a sort of secure locker for apps you want to keep out of the sight of prying eyes. Apps in Private Space are supposed to remain fully isolated and their notifications restricted to the primary Android device. It's a perfect place to store banking apps, messaging apps, and dating apps. But some devices running Android 15 are pushing notifications to connected Wear OS watches.

To add confusion to the situation, some of these notifications arrive with a work profile icon for users who don't have work profiles configured on their devices. Work profiles are usually set up by someone's employer and allow the user to switch between personal and work use. The work profile and Private Space features are separate and shouldn't have anything to do with each other.

Some users have reported a work profile tab within the Wear OS app even without setting up a work profile on their phone. This is likely a consequence of the new Private Space being enabled but not being optimized to work with other profiles.

Google says it is working on a fix for this issue

Google was quick to acknowledge the issue and said it is working on a fix for all of these issues, hinting that they may be connected. Google has advised users to either turn off notifications for the apps they have in Private Space, or continue to expect strange notifications on their Wear OS devices . Google hasn't provided a timeline for the fix.

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