Android 16 improves multitasking by letting you minimize stationary windows

Tablets can comfortably fit more than one app on the screen at a time thanks to their larger screens, but until recently Android has not supported opening apps in free resizable windows, at least not without manufacturer adaptations. In December last year, however Desktop window features To Android, so tablet users can run multiple apps at the same time in FreForm Windows. The first version of the desktop window feature was quite bare bones, as it even lacked basic features as a minimer button. With the upcoming Android 16 Update, but Google will finally let users minimize desktop windows.

When Android’s stationary window mode is enabled on tablets, a small handle is placed on top of each app. Apps can be entered in desktop window mode by dragging the handle to the center of the tablet screen or by pressing the handle and then selecting the Desktop Windowing option from the menu. When an app is open in a window, Android adds a top line that contains the app’s icon, name and different buttons, for example to maximize and close the window.

The first release of freeform windows in Android 15 QPR1 did not include a minimer button in this top line. As a result, users must close a window to remove it from View, which also closes the app. This can cause the user to lose data or progress and strongly prevents multitasking.

Address this problem, the new Android 16 beta 3 Release adds a minimization button in the top line, and it Works just as expected. To drain it hides the window, which can later be reopened by tapping the app’s icon in the taskbar. The taskbar indicator under the app’s icon shrinks when the window is minimized and enlarges when it opens. When all the apps are minimized, Android immediately expires stationary window mode, but keeps the apps open so that they can be related when the user enters stationary window mode again.

Here is a video that demonstrates the new minimer button in Android 16 Beta 3:

Other recent changes to FreForm Windows include the ability to put apps such as YouTube in photo-in-image mode, as well as the ability to pull a chrome tab to open it in its own window. The ability to put apps like YouTube in photo-in-image mode is not new on Beta 3, but was not originally part of the first release of desktop window. The ability to drag a Chrome tab to open it in its own window was teased by Google in its original announcement, but trusted a chrome flag that was not active at the time of the first release.

These improvements to the desktop window are basic, but necessary for Android to move on to becoming an operating system for stationary class. We recently reported that Google is working on a new experience of desktop mode called Desktop -viewAnd if it wants the new feature to get traction, the company must add more window functions that users will expect from stationary operating systems.