Google released the Android L developer preview at the I/O 2014 event. In a latest post on Android issue tracker and its official response, it has been made clear that the Android L smartphones will arrive with multiple user support. The issue was posted with the title “Enable multi-user on phone type devices” and it was filed in the Android Developer Preview public project.
The post reads, "Tablets are able to have multiple accounts for multiple users, allowing the users to install an app only for themselves. Storage space of phones is growing, 32GB or even 64GB. For example, some families are sharing their phones with their kids for gaming. On a tablet, you can set up an account for your kids and restrict the access on your own apps. My idea is to enable the multi-user feature on phone type devices, with adding an extra restricted account type for kids."
The same post on Android issue tracker was closed by one of the Project members, a Google employee who has replied "The development team has implemented this feature and it will be available as a part of the next public build."
As the Android L platform will be made available commercially by the end of this year, the Project member clearly tips that the next public build will bring about the multi-user support in the final build when it is released.
Google is not new to multi-user profile support as the firm has already rolled out the same for tablets with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean in 2012. This was further updated in release of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The multi-user profile support will help in confining the app usage and content consumption on Android tablets for different users.
Hence, this functionality will help the users of upcoming Android L based smartphone users to share their handset with their kids or relatives without any privacy concerns.