Managing Users and Accounts

User management involves users, accounts, and application data.

  • User. Each User is intended to be used by a different physical person. Each User has distinct application data, accounts, and some unique settings, as well as a user interface to explicitly switch between Users. For more information, see Multi-User Support.
  • Account. Accounts are contained within a User but are not defined by a user, nor is a user defined by or linked to any given account. Users contain their own unique accounts but are not required to have accounts to be functional. For details, see the Account class definition.
  • Application Data. Exists within each User and is sandboxed from other applications within the same User. Apps within the same User can interact with each other via IPC.

Note: Automotive does not yet support either an Automotive-specific version of Android device administration (Android for Enterprise) or Profiles (Managed or Restricted).

Managing Users and Accounts: User Interface

Android Automotive OS provides a reference user experience and interface for managing Users and Accounts.

  • CarSettings. The Car Settings application contains the UI for managing Users and Accounts. This includes a UI through which Admin Users can adjust the roles and restrictions of other Non-Admin Users.
  • Quick Settings. Quick Settings (within the Car Settings application) contains a UI for easy access to switch Users.
  • User Picker. Upon a device boot, the system UI provides a User Picker screen for a person to switch between existing and to create new Users.

Managing Users: Roles and Restrictions

Future releases will support a more streamlined customization of the default restrictions applied through the User role.