Google brings desktop interface to Android tablets

Google is testing a new feature for Android tablets that lets you resize apps and arrange them on the screen however you like, making it easier to manage multiple tasks. The “windowed desktop” feature is currently available as a developer preview, and for apps that support it, you can even open multiple instances at once.

Currently, apps on Android tablets open in full-screen mode by default. When you enable the new mode, each app will appear in a window with controls that let you move, maximize, or close the app. You’ll also see a taskbar at the bottom of the screen with your running apps.

It sounds a lot like the iPad’s Stage Manager feature that lets you resize and move windows around the screen, or like pretty much any desktop operating system. Samsung has also offered its DeX experience for years, bringing desktop-like window management to Android apps on Galaxy phones and tablets.

Once the feature rolls out to everyone, you can enable it by pressing and holding the window handle at the top of the app’s screen. If you have a keyboard connected, you can also use the meta shortcut (Windows, Command, or Search) + Ctrl + Down to activate desktop mode. (You can exit the mode by closing all active apps or by grabbing a window and dragging it to the top of the screen.)

Google notes that apps locked in portrait mode can still resize, which can make things look a little weird if some apps aren’t optimized. However, Google plans to address this in a future update by scaling the UI of non-resizable apps while maintaining their aspect ratio.

Users can now access the developer preview in the latest Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 for Pixel Tablets, but we don’t yet know when the feature will roll out to everyone — or if it will come to the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.