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17 hours ago
Over the past few years, Google has made major changes to the Android OS to better accommodate tablets and other large-screen devices. These include new features like a taskbar, desktop windowing, enhanced drag-and-drop support, improved app adaptability, and more. Despite these improvements, most people would agree that Android tablets still have a long way to go before they can replace PCs, largely because of their limited multitasking capabilities.
Thankfully, we know that Google is working to improve Android’s multitasking capabilities. The company is making big changes to the platform in preparation for Android-powered PCs, and these changes will benefit not only future Android PCs but also existing Android tablets. One such change Google has been exploring is the ability to launch any Android app in a floating bubble, taking a niche feature currently reserved for messaging apps and turning it into a powerful, general-purpose multitasking feature.
When we first reported on this “bubble anything” feature a year ago, we were excited by its potential to transform multitasking on Android, especially when combined with the new bubble bar on tablets. This combination of features would allow you to easily multitask with two, three, or more Android apps at once, even on smaller tablets that can’t comfortably fit more than two apps on screen.
Unfortunately, Google never ended up releasing this “bubble anything” feature. We assumed this was because the company had scrapped it, as it often does with features that don’t work out or become redundant. However, we’ve discovered new evidence suggesting Google hasn’t scrapped the feature but has instead tweaked it to better fit in with the existing tablet interface.
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New code within the latest 2510 Android Canary release reveals Google’s plans to add a new way to create a floating bubble: dragging an app’s icon to the bottom corners of the screen. I found new strings within the Pixel Launcher app, which is responsible for both the home screen and the taskbar. These strings suggest that the educational promo appearing when you first interact with the taskbar will add a new tutorial. Here’s what the educational promo currently looks like:
The new tutorial Google’s working on will inform users that they can “drag [an app] to the bottom corners to make it float.” An accompanying animation will show “how to create a bubble from the taskbar using a drag gesture.”
Here are the relevant strings that I found:
And here is the accompanying animation. It shows an app being dragged from the taskbar toward the right half of the screen, which previews the split-screen mode. However, instead of releasing the icon to enter split-screen, the animation shows it being dragged to the bottom right corner, launching the app in a smaller bubble window.
(Note: I didn’t include another variant of this animation that shows the same drag gesture with the “transient” taskbar.)
While these new strings and animations don’t explicitly confirm you’ll be able to launch any Android app in a floating bubble, they strongly indicate this capability is coming. Android currently only lets you create bubbles from conversation notifications, a feature limited to supported apps. However, since Android already lets you put any app on your taskbar, it wouldn’t make sense for Google to limit this new drag-to-bubble gesture to just messaging apps. We know Google has been working to make the bubble feature compatible with any app, and we believe the company is leveraging that work for this new gesture.
This approach differs from the previous iteration of the “bubble anything” feature, which required tapping a button on the home screen or in the recents menu. In contrast, the new drag gesture is more aligned with how other multitasking features work on tablets. It starts by dragging an app from the taskbar and ends with dropping it onto a specific part of the screen, similar to how you initiate split-screen mode.
I can’t guarantee that Google will launch this feature, but the addition of a tutorial is a good sign. We doubt Google would create a tutorial for a feature it has no intention of releasing, though plans can always change.
We don’t know when Google plans to launch this feature, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it in the third quarterly platform release (QPR3) of Android 16 next March. Google has launched major new tablet and multitasking features in quarterly releases before, so the timing would make sense. Be sure to follow Android Authority to find out what happens!
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