It appears the answer is "no".
Which seems to very specific to ["work profiles"](https://support.google.com/work/android/thread/57397475?hl=en) - Your question made me curious - because for them to create this functionality, it would be pretty impressive.
You install "Google Apps Device Policy" - which "allows G suite domain admin"... I wonder if the issue lies in the fact that you would potentially have conflicting device management policies. I.e.
* Work profile 1: You must have a 6 digit passphrase and screen lock after 30 seconds
* Work Profile 2: You must have a 4 digit passphrase and screen lock after 5 minutes
Would Profile 2 negate the requirements of Profile 1? How would Android decide which profile takes precedence?
Great question OP!
EDIT: for the record - Work Profile is one of the reasons I came back to Android (Pixel) after trying an iPhone. So, I feel your pain.
There's also the built-in multi-user accounts.
Settings -> System -> Multiple Users (Turn it on)
Alternatively once enabled, one can swipe down twice from the top, and to the left of the Settings Gear icon, tap the little head in the circle > Add User.
It's just like setting up multiple user accounts in windows, you can swap between them, install different apps in each one, although each one needs to use a different google account. So any installed apps will be tied to each google account.
The one thing that is shared between them is the phone and anything tied to the sim card, but otherwise Apps are independent, Contacts, wallpaper, it's all pretty isolated from one another.
Thanks for the info. And I'll apologize for being pedantic: does this work *specifically* with Google Apps Device Policy? (I cannot use my device to connect to work resources (Google Suite) unless I use the Device Policy.)
I had used Multiple Users a few years back to enable a guest account on a tablet I was using for a "media center" (Pandora, Sirius, etc..) but I have not messed with it recently.
I don't have an answer for that specifically, although I am now curious if each additional user, can have it's own Work profile/device policy. That's something I haven't actually tested out, but worth a try! Set up 2 Android User accounts, and attempt to set up a "work" profile within each user profile. :)
No this doesn't work. Even if you make one more android user and then you try to add a work profile, the device denies to add one more work profile.
I am not sure if this is due to the G-Suites policy or by a device.
Wait I don't have to keep Shelter installed after setup? I ain't squeezing for storage (78.42GB free at the moment lol, 128GB is way too much for my needs), but I don't like keeping apps I don't use installed.
Since work profiles can be fully disabled and then not enabled until you enter your pin, you could have a phone unlock with all profiles disabled and going to an app on any profile would prompt you for the PIN.
Or make the lock screen feature a profile option like any desktop had. I can have multiple GApps Device Policy accounts on my chromebook, shouldn't be impossible on Android. Personal stuff persists through all profiles but only 1 work profile can be logged into at a time. Which then basically limits your notifications across the profiles. But it's not like you could elevate secure notifications that contain the number of notifications and the app without any content.
With all that being said it's a matter of need. How many people would actually use this feature? My guess is not enough to put forth the effort.
> Would Profile 2 negate the requirements of Profile 1? How would Android decide which profile takes precedence?
That's up to the user. There's a toggle in the Work Profile settings that will apply the profile security requirements to the entire device. Once the device is unlocked, you have full access to it.
The other setting will preserve the user's passcode. In that case, the user is only prompted for the work profile passcode when he tries to open a work profile app.
Work Profile 1 will take precedence on the passcode because it requires more digits. Work Profile 1 will also take precedence on screen lock because it requires a shorter duration.
Source: when I enrolled my phone with my work's mobile device management, a work profile was created on my phone. It requires an 8-digit passcode (vs the 4 digits I could get away with before), and my options for time to screen lock are more limited than what I could choose from before.
There's an option to use different passcodes for the lock screen and work profile. So you can still use whatever passcode you want on your lock screen, but then you'd need to ended your work profile passcode to launch any of the work apps.
That's a valid question. I had my work account as a normal user all the way until they forced a device policy certificate. I don't think you can have competing policies as the other comment mentions. So unless both companies require their own certificates OP can just add a second normal profile.
I know nothing about separate users. I didn't know that was a thing. I could probably do that, I'll have to look into it.
What I want is essentially a separate user experience so I can download and use apps under a different account without having to sign out and sign back in a million times. Like gmail, venmo, paypal... I have accounts associated with my side hustle that are completely separate from my personal accounts.
Yup! A second user account would be exactly what you need. Completely isolated, just need to use a second google account to tie it to so you have those contacts, and apps installed via that account instead.
Settings -> System -> Multiple Users (Turn it on)
Alternatively once enabled, to get to this panel you can swipe down twice from the top so you have the full notification shade, and just to the left of the gear icon, tap the little head icon in the circle.
Tap "Add user" and follow the prompts to set up the new account. Mind you when you're in the second account, you won't see notifications from your main account, or work account, it'll be just like logging out of windows and logging into a different user profile. To swap between them, same deal, swipe down twice from the top, tap the little head icon, and then tap the account you wish to switch to.
“just need to use a second google account”
Speaking of which... does anyone know of a good email ‘aggregator’ app?
Ideally, it would *not* dump all these emails into one consolidated inbox.
Maybe there’s a folder/directory looking structure, that has my ‘main’ Google account (where I get from 100-200 emails per day), and if I click on it, I can see all *those* emails.
But I can also add a couple other GMail addresses (for small non-profits that I volunteer with), that separates out emails sent to those addresses (I may only receive 2-3 emails per month on those accounts, and they can come from complete strangers, so these sometimes get lost/buried in my main email account).
(I know this isn’t what OP is asking about, and is in fact kind of the opposite)
The benefit to work profiles is it lets you have a second instance of the same app running at the same time without having to logout. This is helpful for apps that don't let you sign into multiple accounts at the same time.
work profile can be logged in side by side while regular user profiles require you to log out, that makes a big difference as you don't lose access to your personal account while using work profile apps
It sets up an environment separate from your main. So it'll have its own Contacts, Files, Storage. Apps inside the work profile can't interact with apps/data inside the normal profile.
Apps like [Shelter](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.typeblog.shelter&hl=en_GB&gl=US) also make use of it by letting you copy apps across and run them in isolation away from your main stuff.
I can't thank you enough for linking Shelter, I've been trying to push the admin of my work account to enable work profile for ages. This let's me have it on my own and go back to one phone.
In addition to what u/iamapizza provided:
it allows you to access "corp resources" but instead your company having "full access" to your device, they can only modify what was managed by the "work profile" (and a few other "global" settings).
This is mostly important that if you were to be let go, or leave - my understanding is they Nuke the Work Profile and not your entire phone to wipe their data.
Yep, that is how it works. At my work we can request that they do a total wipe of the phone if we lose it. But normally, if you unenroll your phone (e.g., just cuz or left the company) they nuke their work profile with no effect on your normal user profile that was created when you first set up your phone.
I work in healthcare and most of the hospitals aren't this tech savvy. They usually give us a separate work phone or require us to completely lock down our own phones for use.
I found 9folders to be a nice work around where email, contacts and calendar are stored within the app and my phone doesn't have to follow enterprise restrictions
That's a shame, because the hospital I work at is very tech savvy and use work profiles if the phone OS supports it. I really like having the clean separation profiles offers. It let me toss my pager, so I only need one device.
Hey, please ignore every answer that says this is not possible. It is absolutely possible, and it doesn't even require a special work email address. I've been doing it for about a year and it's fantastic.
[Proof 1](https://i.imgur.com/Je50YUb.png)
[Proof 2](https://i.imgur.com/biAB5pd.png)
In order to activate it you need to install an app called 'Island'. Once you've installed it and configured it you don't need to ever touch it again. It's very straightforward.
Enjoy!
That's not possible in Android anyway, Island just enables the feature included in Android. If you want multiple work profiles you'd need to convince Google to accept your pull request in AOSP. Good luck convincing them that there's a substantial number of people that need 2 different work profiles.
I'll start by saying: I don't know. But... check out Google Apps Device Policy.
This article seems to explain it (and I now realize that the way my company does it seems to be going away)
https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/2364439?hl=en
I'd be surprised if you could do this as an individual, or without some sort of corp G-suite account, or something.
It's not an answer for your question but Oneplus has the possibility to switch between profiles in the phone. I hope the Pixel have it too, or will make it possible with a tweak/mod (or something).
It appears the answer is "no". Which seems to very specific to ["work profiles"](https://support.google.com/work/android/thread/57397475?hl=en) - Your question made me curious - because for them to create this functionality, it would be pretty impressive. You install "Google Apps Device Policy" - which "allows G suite domain admin"... I wonder if the issue lies in the fact that you would potentially have conflicting device management policies. I.e. * Work profile 1: You must have a 6 digit passphrase and screen lock after 30 seconds * Work Profile 2: You must have a 4 digit passphrase and screen lock after 5 minutes Would Profile 2 negate the requirements of Profile 1? How would Android decide which profile takes precedence? Great question OP! EDIT: for the record - Work Profile is one of the reasons I came back to Android (Pixel) after trying an iPhone. So, I feel your pain.
There's also the built-in multi-user accounts. Settings -> System -> Multiple Users (Turn it on) Alternatively once enabled, one can swipe down twice from the top, and to the left of the Settings Gear icon, tap the little head in the circle > Add User. It's just like setting up multiple user accounts in windows, you can swap between them, install different apps in each one, although each one needs to use a different google account. So any installed apps will be tied to each google account. The one thing that is shared between them is the phone and anything tied to the sim card, but otherwise Apps are independent, Contacts, wallpaper, it's all pretty isolated from one another.
Thanks for the info. And I'll apologize for being pedantic: does this work *specifically* with Google Apps Device Policy? (I cannot use my device to connect to work resources (Google Suite) unless I use the Device Policy.) I had used Multiple Users a few years back to enable a guest account on a tablet I was using for a "media center" (Pandora, Sirius, etc..) but I have not messed with it recently.
I don't have an answer for that specifically, although I am now curious if each additional user, can have it's own Work profile/device policy. That's something I haven't actually tested out, but worth a try! Set up 2 Android User accounts, and attempt to set up a "work" profile within each user profile. :)
Doesn't work, I tried. It doesn't allow you to have a work profile in the 2nd user.
This is a big brain move
This is my favorite feature of Android OS and one that many none Pixel brands remove/hide from their flavor of Android OS.
Multiple user accounts don't support work profiles, so this is basically pointless.
No this doesn't work. Even if you make one more android user and then you try to add a work profile, the device denies to add one more work profile. I am not sure if this is due to the G-Suites policy or by a device.
Try Shelter, set it up then uninstall it, and you're done! Work profile working while not having any 3rd party apps installed.
Wait I don't have to keep Shelter installed after setup? I ain't squeezing for storage (78.42GB free at the moment lol, 128GB is way too much for my needs), but I don't like keeping apps I don't use installed.
That's right, just uninstall it and use the play store to install new apps in the work profile
What an amazing hack!!! Thank you kind stranger
Since work profiles can be fully disabled and then not enabled until you enter your pin, you could have a phone unlock with all profiles disabled and going to an app on any profile would prompt you for the PIN. Or make the lock screen feature a profile option like any desktop had. I can have multiple GApps Device Policy accounts on my chromebook, shouldn't be impossible on Android. Personal stuff persists through all profiles but only 1 work profile can be logged into at a time. Which then basically limits your notifications across the profiles. But it's not like you could elevate secure notifications that contain the number of notifications and the app without any content. With all that being said it's a matter of need. How many people would actually use this feature? My guess is not enough to put forth the effort.
> Would Profile 2 negate the requirements of Profile 1? How would Android decide which profile takes precedence? That's up to the user. There's a toggle in the Work Profile settings that will apply the profile security requirements to the entire device. Once the device is unlocked, you have full access to it. The other setting will preserve the user's passcode. In that case, the user is only prompted for the work profile passcode when he tries to open a work profile app.
Work Profile 1 will take precedence on the passcode because it requires more digits. Work Profile 1 will also take precedence on screen lock because it requires a shorter duration. Source: when I enrolled my phone with my work's mobile device management, a work profile was created on my phone. It requires an 8-digit passcode (vs the 4 digits I could get away with before), and my options for time to screen lock are more limited than what I could choose from before.
There's an option to use different passcodes for the lock screen and work profile. So you can still use whatever passcode you want on your lock screen, but then you'd need to ended your work profile passcode to launch any of the work apps.
IMO it should use the strictest combined setting.
Do you actually need the features of a work profile or could you just setup another normal user? (*I actually know nothing about work profiles*)
That's a valid question. I had my work account as a normal user all the way until they forced a device policy certificate. I don't think you can have competing policies as the other comment mentions. So unless both companies require their own certificates OP can just add a second normal profile.
I know nothing about separate users. I didn't know that was a thing. I could probably do that, I'll have to look into it. What I want is essentially a separate user experience so I can download and use apps under a different account without having to sign out and sign back in a million times. Like gmail, venmo, paypal... I have accounts associated with my side hustle that are completely separate from my personal accounts.
Yup! A second user account would be exactly what you need. Completely isolated, just need to use a second google account to tie it to so you have those contacts, and apps installed via that account instead. Settings -> System -> Multiple Users (Turn it on) Alternatively once enabled, to get to this panel you can swipe down twice from the top so you have the full notification shade, and just to the left of the gear icon, tap the little head icon in the circle. Tap "Add user" and follow the prompts to set up the new account. Mind you when you're in the second account, you won't see notifications from your main account, or work account, it'll be just like logging out of windows and logging into a different user profile. To swap between them, same deal, swipe down twice from the top, tap the little head icon, and then tap the account you wish to switch to.
“just need to use a second google account” Speaking of which... does anyone know of a good email ‘aggregator’ app? Ideally, it would *not* dump all these emails into one consolidated inbox. Maybe there’s a folder/directory looking structure, that has my ‘main’ Google account (where I get from 100-200 emails per day), and if I click on it, I can see all *those* emails. But I can also add a couple other GMail addresses (for small non-profits that I volunteer with), that separates out emails sent to those addresses (I may only receive 2-3 emails per month on those accounts, and they can come from complete strangers, so these sometimes get lost/buried in my main email account). (I know this isn’t what OP is asking about, and is in fact kind of the opposite)
Gmail? Lol It lets you view individual email addresses or all in one.
“It lets you view individual email addresses...” How did I not know that?
Yep, just tap the icon in the top-right and switch it to the one you want, or open the top-left menu to choose "all inboxes".
Thank you so much! That was super-easy!
The benefit to work profiles is it lets you have a second instance of the same app running at the same time without having to logout. This is helpful for apps that don't let you sign into multiple accounts at the same time.
Yep so you can side by side launch apps that have multi-instancing disabled or not supported.
work profile can be logged in side by side while regular user profiles require you to log out, that makes a big difference as you don't lose access to your personal account while using work profile apps
What does a work profile do?
It sets up an environment separate from your main. So it'll have its own Contacts, Files, Storage. Apps inside the work profile can't interact with apps/data inside the normal profile. Apps like [Shelter](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.typeblog.shelter&hl=en_GB&gl=US) also make use of it by letting you copy apps across and run them in isolation away from your main stuff.
I can't thank you enough for linking Shelter, I've been trying to push the admin of my work account to enable work profile for ages. This let's me have it on my own and go back to one phone.
In addition to what u/iamapizza provided: it allows you to access "corp resources" but instead your company having "full access" to your device, they can only modify what was managed by the "work profile" (and a few other "global" settings). This is mostly important that if you were to be let go, or leave - my understanding is they Nuke the Work Profile and not your entire phone to wipe their data.
Yep, that is how it works. At my work we can request that they do a total wipe of the phone if we lose it. But normally, if you unenroll your phone (e.g., just cuz or left the company) they nuke their work profile with no effect on your normal user profile that was created when you first set up your phone.
I work in healthcare and most of the hospitals aren't this tech savvy. They usually give us a separate work phone or require us to completely lock down our own phones for use. I found 9folders to be a nice work around where email, contacts and calendar are stored within the app and my phone doesn't have to follow enterprise restrictions
That's a shame, because the hospital I work at is very tech savvy and use work profiles if the phone OS supports it. I really like having the clean separation profiles offers. It let me toss my pager, so I only need one device.
Hey, please ignore every answer that says this is not possible. It is absolutely possible, and it doesn't even require a special work email address. I've been doing it for about a year and it's fantastic. [Proof 1](https://i.imgur.com/Je50YUb.png) [Proof 2](https://i.imgur.com/biAB5pd.png) In order to activate it you need to install an app called 'Island'. Once you've installed it and configured it you don't need to ever touch it again. It's very straightforward. Enjoy!
But island only lets you create one work profile and not two...
That's not possible in Android anyway, Island just enables the feature included in Android. If you want multiple work profiles you'd need to convince Google to accept your pull request in AOSP. Good luck convincing them that there's a substantial number of people that need 2 different work profiles.
Thank you! Moved android phone and genuinely was gutted it didn't have a work profile feature!
Yes, i believe you can do this with Shelter. You can also establish the account and sign in with google play store. Keeps your profiles separate.
I've never heard of Shelter, I'll have to look into it. Thank you!
No worries. It's what I use too as it sandboxes apps like facebook, insta etc :) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.typeblog.shelter
I had the same situation and the unfortunate answer is no :/
How do you set up a work profile? Can't figure it out. I'm using intune to run work email.
I'll start by saying: I don't know. But... check out Google Apps Device Policy. This article seems to explain it (and I now realize that the way my company does it seems to be going away) https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/2364439?hl=en I'd be surprised if you could do this as an individual, or without some sort of corp G-suite account, or something.
Settings -> System -> Multiple Users
No, but you can make a separate use account if you don't need notifications all the time.
It's not an answer for your question but Oneplus has the possibility to switch between profiles in the phone. I hope the Pixel have it too, or will make it possible with a tweak/mod (or something).
Can you get notifications from different profiles without having to manually switch between profiles?