The more we learn about Android 16, the more and more excited I get about Google’s upcoming update
. Things like lock screen widgets and the new Quick Settings UI already had me hooked, and now, another new feature has me itching to get my hands on Google’s next Android update: revamped multitasking.Android Authority recently went hands-on with Android 16’s new multitasking; overall, it looks fantastic. From what we’ve seen, it’ll be smoother, simpler, and much faster than what we have today in Android 15. But as much of an improvement as Google’s new version in Android 16 may be, part of me wishes it more closely resembled the multitasking UI from another Android brand.
Why Android 16’s new multitasking is such a big upgrade
First, what makes multitasking in Android 16 so great? I’ll start by explaining why multitasking in Android 15 is so bad.
While other Android manufacturers have created their own (and better) multitasking solutions, the native version in Android 15 today is a very basic split-screen approach. It allows you to have two apps open on your phone simultaneously, either in a 50/50 split or with an adjustable size using the bar in the middle of the screen.
In practice, this has never been all that useful. Can it be helpful to see two apps on your phone at once? Sure. But even on a phone as big as the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, having apps squished in half makes most of them either unusable or very difficult to navigate.
Android 16 will introduce something called the “Bubble Bar,” and from what we’ve seen so far, it’s a massive improvement.
In short, you can shrink all of your apps into bubbles and have them live in the bubble bar near the bottom corner of your screen. Apps opened from the bubble bar don’t take over your entire screen, so you can access these bubbled apps on your home screen or while you’re using another application. The video above is a good demonstration of how it works.
The benefit of this over the current multitasking solution is simple. Instead of running two apps simultaneously in cramped, squished windows, you can run them in a mostly full-screen view while switching between them faster than ever. It’s also easy to see how this would be useful if you want an app like WhatsApp or Telegram in your bubble bar, allowing you to use your phone how you like while having easy access to all your conversations.
Open Canvas still does it better
Okay, great! So what’s the problem, then? As happy as I am to see Google rework Android multitasking, and as substantial of an upgrade the bubble bar is, it still doesn’t match the current gold standard for multitasking on Android — that gold standard being Open Canvas.
First released alongside the OnePlus Open and later expanded to non-folding phones like the OnePlus 13 and 13R, Open Canvas is OnePlus’s custom approach to Android multitasking. At first glance, it looks a lot like Android’s regular split-screen multitasking UI. You’ve got two apps on your screen simultaneously, each running in the usual 50/50 split.
What makes Open Canvas unique is that you can shrink one of these apps to a small sliver, while the other takes up most of the screen. Once you do this, you see your main app running in a mostly full-screen view, allowing you to use it like usual. When you tap your other, shrunken app, it changes places with your primary/full-screen one.
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