Google Is Still Working On A Tiny Taskbar For Your Android Phone

Contents

Google has updated the dormant taskbar with a new icon

Summary

Google is continuing development of a compact taskbar for Android phones, similar to the one found on tablets and foldables.
Recent updates to the dormant phone taskbar implementation include visual bug fixes and a new, phone-exclusive icon that opens a carousel of the six most recently used apps.
Issues remain, including the recent apps carousel currently being non-functional and visual cut-offs in certain home-screen grid configurations, suggesting the feature is still in the early stages of development.

Modern smartphones are powerful enough to enable seamless multitasking without hiccups. However, Android has to walk a fine line between offering multitasking features, all while ensuring that the visual experience doesn’t feel too cluttered.

This isn’t necessarily a problem on larger Android devices — tablets, for example. The larger display means Google can fit more UI elements to facilitate multitasking, with proper split-screen functionality and a taskbar to easily switch between apps.

Multitasking on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Previously, Google has been spotted seemingly exploring the idea of bringing a dedicated taskbar to Android phones. Since last year, though, that idea, and its partial implementation on Android 15, has remained dormant.

For those unaware, last year, an Android 15 Beta 4 build was found to include code for a compact taskbar for regular phones. Once activated, the barebones implementation on smartphones looked similar to the taskbar design seen on foldables like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and even somewhat similar to Samsung’s implementation on its foldables.

Between then and now, Google has seemingly not done much with the implementation, but this tiny new addition gives us hope that the tech giant hasn’t abandoned the smartphone taskbar.

Google has updated the dormant taskbar with a new icon

That pulls up recent apps

Highlighted by credible Android leaker and analyst Mishaal Rahman in a report for Android Authority, Google has recently made some changes to the inactive implementation. These include visual bug fixes, and, more importantly, the introduction of a new taskbar icon that pulls up the six most recently opened apps.

The latter, which isn’t even available on tablets, presents itself as a carousel with dedicated left and right arrows to move through the carousel.

The choice to only include the new icon on the potentially-upcoming phone taskbar, and not on tablets, makes sense. The taskbar on tablets and large-screen devices, for reference, already displays the two most recently accessed apps. On smartphones, though, where screen real estate availability is tight, a dedicated icon that separately pulls up recently used apps makes more sense.

It is unlikely that the smartphone-specific taskbar will roll out with Android 16. Rahman points out that even though Google did squash some visual inconsistencies, there’s still a lot more work to be done. For starters, tapping any of the recently-used apps on the carousel currently does nothing, which might suggest that the underlying functionality is yet to be ported over. Additionally, the taskbar gets cut off when the home screen grid is set to 5×5.

Elsewhere, the taskbar isn’t the only multitasking avenue that Google is exploring. It is also actively working on a Samsung DeX-like desktop mode for Android phones, which could come out with next year’s Android 17.