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I like the guest account feature on Lollipop, but I would like to add apps to the account, so that a guest can use more than just native Google apps, that I have available on my device. I know this was working in KitKat with a "new user".

Is this not possible with just the "guest" user? Do I have to create a new user for that? Are there any drawbacks to having such a "hard guest" account for this purpose on a device? Like a considerable CPU/battery/memory impact?

If relevant, I have Nexus 7 (2013) on Android 5.0.1.

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No issues if you sign up with a new guest Google account. Make a guest user ID for Google services in the guest session, and use the guest session as a normal session.

Though, it shares the device storage (for apps installed) but not RAM. Hence, both sessions' RAM usages are separately managed for each other!

I tried that. While my account showed 1GB free, the guest on the contrary showed 1.8GB free!

Impacts: Google is smart, and this feature has been made way better now in Lollipop than in KitKat. So don't worry, everything is managed effectively by the system.

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    Just to clarify, what do you mean by making a guest user ID for Google services? Will I be able to share the apps? Or will I have to install new instances within this modified guest? Or instead of downloading will it use the downloaded data of the app in the other account?
    – Ev0oD
    Commented Mar 11, 2015 at 7:33
  • @Ev0oD Yeah by "Guest ID" I just meant, make a new google account; like '[email protected]' or anything that you can remember. So that way, you are able to enable your guest users to download apps from PlayStore. And also, your Main account and Guest account will no way interfare with each other. So, actually you end up making a completely different set of Users similar to Microsoft Windows!
    – sud007
    Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 9:43
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Adding a restricted user seems to be, what you are looking for. This should work on Lollipop tablets. After creating such an account, you can select which of your installed apps are usable by that account.

Sadly, that feature does not seem to exist on Lollipop smartphones though. There is a workaround though that may also suit your needs.

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  • This is what I mentioned in the question by saying "new user" in KitKat. I know about this, but it does not behave as guest, because it keeps state (as if it was a shared owner of the device). I also stated more subquestions which you left unadressed.
    – Ev0oD
    Commented Jan 14, 2015 at 22:29
  • @Ev0oD I added a link to my answer to a workaround. There I also did describe the memory impact. And IMO you have to create another account for this.
    – Nils
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 21:24
  • By memory impact I did not mean storage capacity requirements, but RAM overhead. But I appreciate the efforts
    – Ev0oD
    Commented Jan 19, 2015 at 11:29

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