App ‘Handoff’ coming to Android 17 for cross-device continuity

Besides what was detailed in Google’s blog post, another new “cross-device continuity” feature coming to Android 17 is “Handoff.”

Google describes Handoff as a new user-facing feature that “runs in the background” and an API for developers. This will let you “start an app activity on one Android device and transition it to another Android device.” Google will use the launcher and taskbar to surface available activities from your nearby devices. 

Handoff can launch the “same native Android app” if it’s “installed and available on the receiving device.” 

Android 17 will also offer “app-to-web Handoff” as a fallback option.

Advertisement - scroll for more content

For developers, “Handoff support is implemented on a per-activity basis.”

We’re not seeing anything live in Android 17 Beta 1. No other developer documentation or details appear to be available today, including what form factors this will be offered on. For example, the mentioned taskbar is just on foldables, tablets, and other large screen Android devices. You can imagine how such a continuity feature might work with desktop Android, like starting to compose an email on your phone and then finishing that on your laptop.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage

for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter

to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories

, and subscribe to our YouTube channel