CopperheadOS featuring Android 11

Today, Copperhead is excited to release our Android 11 update as we proudly strive to remain at the forefront of secure Android development. Android 11 brings with it a host of new features contributed by Google, Copperhead and the greater Android community.

Copperhead continues to improve Android for the benefit of all

Upstreamed privacy enhancements

Each new official Android version sees Google up-streaming more features which CopperheadOS has showcased for more than two years. A key example of this is the growing use of only while in-use permissions. These features allow users to grant Apps permission to use the camera, microphone, or location features while actively using that App. While the broader Android community grows stronger together, Copperhead will continue to lead the way with privacy and security innovations.

Upstreamed security enhancements

As outlined by Google's system hardening blog, Android continues to expand on known security features while also including features from the development community. There are notable inclusions in Android 11's hardening from CopperheadOS, such as changes to initializing memory, which we've maintained and implemented for years.

Scudo heap allocator

One of CopperheadOS's strongest defenses is the inclusion of a hardened allocator which prevents many classes of exploits. As of Android 11, Google has replaced jemalloc, now incorporating a exploit-resistant open-source heap allocator called Scudo in Android 11. CopperheadOS's security-enhanced hardened allocator is fine-tuned for our devices because we're content sacrificing some performance for exploit resistance. In a typical win-win for Android and Copperhead, CopperheadOS Android 11 now uses Scudo for legacy code (32-bit) executions and continues to use the CopperheadOS hardened allocator for 64-bit memory functions thereby covering all native code execution functions.

Protect your data with regular backups

The release of Android 11 coincides with Copperhead's full integration of the Seedvault app for Encrypted Backup and Restore. Copperhead was one of the first AOSP-based commercial entities to include Seedvault in our releases and we're proud of how far that project has come.

Visit our Youtube for a walk-through of taking an encrypted backup and restoring it using Seedvault.

Google’s renewed focus on usability and user experience

Meanwhile, Google has not remained a sleeping giant. Android 11 is Google’s most user oriented release to date, making improvements in usability by leaps and bounds. Users will take quick notice of smoother transitions, easier to follow menus and customization options to exhaust even the most critical enthusiast.

Bubbles have come to CopperheadOS. Separating messages and notifications per app, bubbles allow users to better manage, see, and understand their expanded notifications at a glance. Users can manage Bubbles and view their Notification history by opening Settings -> Apps and Notifications -> Notifications.

Customers will be receiving the Android 11 update through our Updater immediately. If you have issues downloading the Android 11 release please contact your Copperhead partner.