Google is testing a new feature for Android tablets that will let you freely resize apps and arrange them however you like on your screen, making it easier to juggle multiple tasks. The Desktop Windowing feature is now available as a developer preview, and apps that support the feature will even let you have more than one instance open.
Currently, apps on Android tablets open in full-screen mode by default. With the new mode enabled, each app will appear in a window with controls that let you reposition, maximize, or close the app. You'll also see a taskbar at the bottom of your screen with your running apps.
Once the feature is available to everyone, you'll be able to activate it by holding down the window handle at the top of an app's screen. If you have a keyboard connected, you can also activate Desktop mode using the Meta key combination (Windows, Command, or Search) + Ctrl + Down. (You can exit the mode by closing all active apps or by dragging a window and pulling it to the top of the screen.)
Google notes that apps that are oriented towards portrait orientation are still resizable, which can result in a slightly odd appearance for non-optimized apps. However, Google plans to fix this issue in a future update by scaling the UI of non-resizable apps while maintaining the aspect ratio.
Currently, users can access the developer preview in the latest Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 for Pixel tablets. We don't yet know when the feature will be available to everyone – or if it will be available for the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.