Rumor: Android 12 is getting ‘app pairs’ for split-screen multitasking

Android 12 would get a way to put two apps as one in the multitasking overview. The feature, App Pairs, has been in Samsung phones for several years and would come as a standard feature in Android 12.

Mockup of App Pairs in Android 12.
Source: 9to5Google

App Pairs should make it easier to keep using two apps at the same time, 9to5Google reports. Two recently opened apps can be grouped in the overview and they form a pair. It is then possible to return to the App Pair from the multitasking overview.

The bar to separate the two apps will also receive a new function, the site reports. On a double tap, both apps would switch places. The feature probably works on current smartphones, but would only come into its own on a device with two screens, such as the Microsoft Surface Duo or foldable smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2. Both phones already have their own function for this and Samsung calls it App Pair itself.

It is unknown when Google will announce the new version of Android. The first preview version of Android 11 came out in February last year. In the years before, the first version of the new version of the operating system appeared in March.