Love it or hate it, the Apple ecosystem has its benefits. Take “Handoff” for example: If you have at least two connected devices, such as an iPhone and a Mac, you can start a task on one and move it to the other. You can start reading an article in Safari on your iPhone, then read it when you get to your Mac. Or, say you’re on a FaceTime call on your Mac, but you have to move; You can simply switch to your iPhone to continue the conversation without calling them back. It’s not perfect, but it works works.
Android doesn’t have exactly the same setup. While some functions work on different devices, like transferring calls, users with Android phones often don’t have the ability to open the same function on their tablets, and vice versa. If you’re reviewing a spreadsheet in Google Sheets on your phone, you can’t lift it up to your tablet for a larger view; Instead you need to open Sheets on your tablet, then find your way to the relevant document. The same goes for many other Google apps, like Chrome, Gmail, Drive, and Docs: Android could really benefit from a dedicated cross-platform option. Luckily, this is coming in the form of a new feature called “Continue On.”
How “Continue On” works on Android
Google announced the “Continue” during its “What’s New in Android” discussion on Tuesday. As reported by 9to5GoogleThis is a new feature as of Android 17, and will be available in Android 17 RC1. If you’ve ever used Handoff in the Apple ecosystem, you’ll understand the basic idea behind Continue On: When you open an app on one of your Android devices, you’ll see that the app will appear on your other device, with a “Handoff suggestion label” hovering over it.
Credit: Google
Let’s say you’re working on a Google Doc on your Pixel phone. When you open your Pixel tablet, you’ll see the Google Docs icon populate with a special label on the document — even if you already have Google Docs in your Dock. If you tap the standard Google Docs icon, you’ll open the app as usual; If you tap the Handoff suggestion, you’ll open the Google Doc you’re working on on your phone. In another example, you might be reading a Gmail thread on your phone, but prefer to finish reading on your tablet. In this case, the Handoff suggestion would be Chrome: Tap it on your tablet, and you’ll drag the thread into Gmail on the big screen.
What do you think so far?
It appears that Google is taking its time implementing Continue On. Although the feature will work “bi-directionally” in the future, at launch it will only work from phones to tablets. This means you won’t be able to send a Google Doc from your tablet to your phone, only from your phone to your tablet. Additionally, Google says it’s up to developers how they want to run this experience with their apps. They can open the same app on both devices (Google Docs to Google Docs), or open the web app from the mobile app (Gmail mobile app to Gmail web app in Chrome). Developers may also opt for a mix of the two: while the default may be app-to-app, developers may choose to fall back to web apps if the user hasn’t installed the app on their tablet.
