Android 17 Adds App Bubbles, Starting as Pixel Exclusive
Android 17 adds app bubbles for up to five apps on Pixel devices, with wider phone support planned, ZDNet reports.
Users can choose an app from the home screen or app drawer, long-press it and select the Bubble option from a menu that also includes App info, Add app to home screen and Pause app. The app then shrinks to an icon that can move along the left or right side of the screen and stays above everything else. Up to five apps can be bubbled at once, though multiple bubbles move together, according to the report.
Android previously allowed bubbling for text conversations, or moving an app to a floating bubble on the home screen. That capability was limited to Google Messages and Facebook Messenger chats, ZDNet reported. The new app-level bubbles extend the function beyond those messaging cases.
Samsung phones have a similar feature called Smart Pop-Up View, which lets users respond to notifications from selected apps without leaving the current app. ZDNet reported that users may need to enable the “Multi window for all apps” setting first, then open Settings, go to Notification Settings, choose Advanced settings, select Floating Notifications and then Smart Pop-Up View to choose which apps get priority.