Android Phones are about to get a lot more interesting as Android 15 could be introducing the taskbar that’s present on Android tablets and foldable smartphones. These large-screen devices have more screen real estate to work with. As such, benefit from having a taskbar to help with multitasking purposes. Google never seems to have felt this style of UI feature was needed for devices with smaller screens. However, it looks like that could be changing in the future.
According to Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman, Android 15 includes the mention of a new “tiny taskbar” feature. The “tiny taskbar” was found in the most recent release of the Android 15 beta, which is version 4. Though it did admittedly take a little bit of work to enable it. Once it’s enabled, it’s possible to bring up a taskbar at the bottom of the screen that allows you to launch multiple apps on-screen simultaneously.
The Android 15 tablet taskbar can run persistently on phones
If having the taskbar wasn’t enough, it looks like you’ll be able to enable a toggle that allows the taskbar to stay up all the time. This persistent visualization will make it easier for people who like to multitask with several apps. That being said, you can also bring the taskbar up at any point by swiping up from the navigation handle.
The latter is the new transient taskbar that Google introduced and will seemingly be available as the native default. But a new button that brings back the old taskbar style where it’s always visible will be there for those who want it. This is what brings up the toggle to enable the taskbar to always be shown.
The taskbar for phones isn’t quite ready
While the new taskbar feature for smaller screens appears to be in the works, it’s not quite ready. It’s also not clear when the feature will be released. With that being said, it is entirely possible that it won’t be launching with Android 15 when the stable version is pushed out to phones in the near future. It could be. But it’s also possible that Google will need to do some more polishing to get it in working order. As Rahman points out, when enabling it on phones, you can see a duplicate of the navigation handle on-screen which is obviously not supposed to be there.
Suggesting that it’s not ready for primetime. Regardless, the notion that it’s coming at all is an exciting revelation that users will no doubt appreciate.
2024-08-07 15:08:55