Google mentions DeX and brings freeform app windows to Android

Many Samsung users love DeX on their phones and tablets as it gives their mobile devices a desktop-like experience for increased productivity. However, DeX is not built into Android and Google wants to provide something similar to DeX to all Android users. So, inspired by DeX, Google is bringing freeform app windows to Android.

DeX inspires Google to bring freeform app windows to Android

Google has announced a new feature called “Desktop Windowing” for Android tablets. In its blog post, Google mentioned that The feature is inspired by Samsung's DeX and ChromeOS. The feature allows you to freely resize app windows and arrange them on the desktop (home screen), making it easier to handle multiple apps. This feature is currently available in the Android 15 Developer Preview and you can try it out on the Pixel tablet.

In addition to freeform windows, similar to ChromeOS, DeX, macOS, and Windows, you can open multiple instances of the same app. Currently, when you open an app on an Android device, it opens in full screen mode. With desktop windowing, apps open in a freeform window that floats on the desktop, which you can maximize or minimize.

You can turn the feature on by holding down the app window handle at the top. If you have a keyboard connected to your tablet, you can open an app window by pressing this key combination: Meta key (Command, Search, or Windows) + Ctrl + Down arrow. You can exit this mode by dragging the app window handle to the top of the screen.

This feature could also be introduced in foldable Android smartphones, as they also have a large screen.

You can see Samsung DeX in action in our video below.

Not all apps look good with freeform windows (especially in landscape mode), but Google encourages developers to try out their apps in this mode and optimize them so they don't look weird. Google also plans to fix this issue by updating this mode by scaling the UI of non-optimized apps while maintaining their aspect ratio.