On Android 11 today, you can use the split screen to open two apps on your device at the same time. However, the process is a bit awkward and has not kept pace with new factors for phone forms. For Android 12, Google is working on a revamped version of the split screen called ‘App Pairs’.
To use two apps side by side on Android today, you need to open one app and then activate the split screen for the app via the latest version. It hides most of the app while the rest of your phone opens to the home screen so you can select a second app. At that point, your first app is now stuck at the top of the screen while the bottom is behaving normally.
As phone screens got bigger and new categories of Androids arrived like foldable and dual screen phones, Android’s built-in split screen features did not keep pace. To help with that, companies like Samsung, LG and Microsoft have created their own alternative split-screen features. For example, the Microsoft Surface Duo incorporates the idea of ’app groups’, which are shortcuts that open two specific apps, one on each screen.
According to information provided by 9to5Google, Google is working to completely overhaul the split screen system in Android 12 with a new feature called ‘App Pairs’. Where the current split screen system effectively “sticks” one app, Android 12’s App Pairs system will group two apps together as a task.
What this should mean is that you can choose two of your recent apps to become a pair. After pairing it, you will be able to easily swap with another app and then swap back to the pair you created.
To illustrate the differences between Android’s current split screen feature and our understanding of App Pairs, we designed it a mockup of how the function maybe look. On the left you can see how the latest app version works today with a split screen, so you can only select a new app at the bottom of the screen. On the right we see our model, which shows that the recent view views the pair as one joint activity.
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This is a mockery!
Just like today with a split screen, the Android 12 App Pairs system offers a divider to let you adjust how much of the screen is taken up by each app. This splitter actually gets a little more functionality, allowing you to quickly swap the positions of your two programs by tapping on the splitter.
If the “App Pair” name sounds familiar, it’s because there’s been a feature with the same name on Samsung’s flagship phones for a number of years. On the Galaxy phones, App Pairs is a shortcut to quickly open two apps in Samsung’s Multi Window mode. It remains to be seen whether the app pairs of Android 12 will also enable these types of shortcuts.
The first Android 11 developer preview arrived in mid-February last year. Assuming Android 12 has a similar schedule, we may be just a few weeks away from seeing App Pairs in action. However, Android 12 will still be in development months after the first preview, and therefore it is subject to change, which means that App Pairs may not be able to launch at all.
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article
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