Google has made several improvements to the Android experience on foldables to utilize the extra screen space better. Android 17 introduced App Bubbles, making it easier to juggle multiple apps at once. Now, with the latest Android Canary build, Google is testing another multitasking upgrade for foldables: an app handle.
The Android Canary 2608 update packs several new features and improvements. For foldables, Google is introducing a new app handle functionality to further improve the multitasking experience.
Mishaal Rahman, community manager for Android at Google, shared a video of the feature in action:
The drag handle appears at the top of every app, letting you drag it to switch between full-screen and split-screen modes. You can also drag the handle on a bubbled app to expand it to full screen. And if you don’t want to drag, tap the handle of a bubbled app to quickly select the “move to full screen” option.
App handle isn’t ready for prime time yet
The concept is not entirely new, as Samsung already offers a similar drag handle in One UI when using split-screen mode.
As the app handle is currently part of the Android Canary branch, there’s no guarantee it will make its way to the stable version of Android — or when that might happen. It’s also only available on foldables, not regular phones. That makes sense, as the larger screen on foldables provides far more room to take advantage of the app handle for multitasking.
From the video, it does seem useful and should further make multitasking easier on foldables. Google could introduce this feature on its upcoming Pixel 11 Pro Fold first later this month and then eventually roll it out to older Pixel foldables as part of an Android 17 Feature Drop.
