Trick activates multitasking feature with single windows in Android N
After previously discovering code in Android N for displaying apps in separate, draggable windows, Ars Technica has now published a method for getting the feature to work. There also appears to be improved mouse support in the mobile operating system.
After Google released the developer version of Android N, it turned out that the new version of the mobile OS contains code that makes it possible to run apps in standalone windows, much like programs appear in OSes for PCs. Zhuowei Zhang, an Ars Technica reader, discovered that the display mode can also be activated already. The website describes the process required for this.
To enable the display, a smartphone or tablet with the Android N Developer Preview is required and the device must have an unlocked bootloader. The freeform.xml code can be activated by flashing a custom recovery as TWRP to the device and mounting the /system partition in it as writable. It is then possible to activate the function with an adb shell command. If the code is active, a square button will appear next to each item in Android’s recent apps menu, next to the close button. By pressing the square button, the relevant app is placed in a separate window.
According to Ars Technica, extensive mouse support is available. For example, the mouse pointer changes when placed on the edge of a window. The window can be resized by clicking and dragging.
The presence of the ability to run apps in separate windows may indicate that Google is working on an Android version for devices such as PCs or laptops. Earlier, Android fork Remix OS came up with the same idea. The display mode could also be used to provide similar functionality to Microsoft’s Ubuntu Convergence and Continuum. Both operating systems have a feature where the OS switches to a desktop display as soon as the smartphone is plugged into a dock that is connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Continuum does not support separate windows, Convergence does.
Google mentions the display mode in its developer documentation, but whether the function will end up in the final version of Android N is also not certain. Google more often puts functionality in Developer Previews of the OS, which ultimately do not make it to the release version. For example, Android M already contained the building blocks for a night mode and the split screen function, which are now in Android N.
Windows in Android N – Image: Ars Technica