Android 16 could let you put ANY app in a floating bubble — here’s a first

[phillynews215]

• Google is preparing to upgrade multitasking in a big way by letting you put any app in a floating bubble.
• Although this feature isn’t live yet, I managed to enable it in the latest Android 15 QPR1 beta.
• It’s unclear when Android’s ‘bubble anything’ feature will go live, but it could be an Android 16 feature given how major it is.

With the launch of Android 11 in 2020, Google introduced a new feature called the bubbles API that lets messaging apps put conversations in a floating window. The floating window sits on top of other apps so you can quickly see or respond to messages from your favorite contacts. When you’re done chatting, you can minimize the floating window, which turns it into a small, floating icon that you can later tap to restore the window. The bubbles API is a great feature that’s sadly underutilized, but Google is looking to change that in Android 16.

The problem with the bubbles API is that it only works for conversation notifications and can be opted out of, so many apps don’t support it. Even many of the best messaging apps that send out conversation notifications don’t support the bubbles API, requiring you to fully open them to see the complete conversation. That’s unfortunate because the UI that launches within the bubble is just a regular Android activity, so in theory, most Android apps should function just fine when placed in a bubble. Google is now testing that theory out by developing a feature that lets you place any Android app in a floating bubble.




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