While I’m a big fan of foldable phones, I still spend most of my time using a traditional slab phone, whether that’s a Google Pixel 9 Pro or now a Pixel 10 Pro.
As good as these phones are, they all share the same limitation: screen space. There’s only so much you can do on a 6-inch display.
Android 17 might not look like a massive update on the surface, but Google has packed it with several smaller improvements that genuinely make everyday use better.
I’ve been running Android 17 since the early beta builds on my Pixel 9 Pro and have now spent the past week with the stable release.
There’s one feature I keep coming back to more than anything else. It’s called App Bubbles, and it has completely changed how I multitask on my phone.
Here’s what App Bubbles are and how you can start using them.
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How to start using App Bubbles on Android 17
App Bubbles keep apps floating on screen for easier multitasking
While Android already offers features like split-screen multitasking and quick app-switching gestures, Android 17 introduces a new way to multitask by letting you run entire apps inside floating bubbles.
With App Bubbles, you can launch an app in a floating window and keep it accessible no matter what else you’re doing. When you don’t need it, move it to the side of the screen, and the app remains active as a small bubble.
When you want to jump back in, tap the bubble and the app expands back to its floating window.
The whole thing actually reminds me of Facebook Messenger’s old chat heads. Except now, instead of just messaging apps, you can use almost any app this way.
Creating App Bubbles on Android 17 is simple:
- Find the app you want to open, either on the home screen or in the app drawer.
- Press and hold the app icon.
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From the menu that appears, tap Bubble.
- The app will immediately launch in a floating window.
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Repeat the same process for other apps if you want multiple bubbles active at once.
However, it’s worth noting that you can only keep up to five App Bubbles active at once. If you try opening a sixth one, Android will automatically replace the oldest bubble you launched.
When active, you can freely move App Bubbles anywhere on the screen. Tapping outside the floating window minimizes it back into a bubble. If you want to reopen a recently closed bubble, tap the plus icon and select it from the list of recent App Bubbles.
And if you want to get rid of a bubble completely, press and hold it, then drag it down to the X icon at the bottom of the screen to dismiss it.
App Bubbles completely changed how I multitask on Android
No other Android 17 addition has changed how I use my phone this much
Google added a lot of features to Android 17, including easier screen reaction recordings and tougher security protections. Still, the one feature I keep coming back to every day is App Bubbles.
In my opinion, this is one of the best multitasking implementations we’ve seen on Android in a long time.
Sure, other Android skins and OEMs have offered different approaches to multitasking, including the ability to run multiple windows at once.
However, I think App Bubbles makes much more sense for how most people use their phones today, constantly jumping between apps for quick tasks.
I keep apps like Gemini, Gmail, Slack, and YouTube available as App Bubbles almost all the time on my Pixel 9 Pro.
These days, I’m constantly looking things up or asking Gemini random questions, and having it available as a bubble is surprisingly useful.
Sure, I can launch Gemini with a swipe gesture, but I prefer keeping everything in the same ongoing chat, and App Bubbles makes that much easier.
Gmail and Slack are my main work apps, and I’m constantly bouncing between them, even while scrolling social media or reading articles.
Having them just a tap away in a bubble makes a bigger difference than I expected.
And then there’s YouTube. Even though I pay for YouTube Premium, I’ve never really been a fan of picture-in-picture mode because it ends up taking too much screen space.
With App Bubbles, I can minimize YouTube into a bubble and jump back into the video whenever I need to see what’s happening on screen. It feels much cleaner and less intrusive.
The best part about App Bubbles, though, is how easy it is to use. There’s almost no learning curve involved.
The one thing I wish Google would add is the ability to convert an open app into a bubble directly from the Recents menu. That’s still not possible right now.
But even as it stands today, App Bubbles feels seamless and is easily my favorite multitasking feature in Android 17.
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I can’t stop using App Bubbles on Android 17
After using App Bubbles for the past few weeks, I hope Google makes this a core Android 17 feature that all Android manufacturers adopt, rather than letting it remain a Pixel-first feature.
This is the kind of multitasking feature that makes sense on pretty much every Android phone, not just Pixels.
And speaking of Android 17, there are plenty of other small improvements worth exploring. App Bubbles might be my favorite addition, but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
