Android 15 QPR1 Beta introduces desktop windowing for Pixel Tablet 

Google has been working on desktop windowing for a long time, and it’s finally being debuted on Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 with the Pixel Tablet.

Google describes it as such:

Desktop windowing allows users to run multiple apps simultaneously and resize app windows, offering a more flexible and desktop-like experience. This, along with a refreshed System UI and new APIs, allows users to be even more productive and creates a more seamless, desktop-like experience on tablets.

The taskbar is “fixed and shows the running apps,” while users are able to pin applications. There’s also a new “header bar with window controls at the top of each window which apps can customize” at the top-right corner. The defaults are fullscreen or shrink window and close the app.

Google says all “apps open in full screen on Android tablets” by default. After enabling the freeform mode in Settings, you will see a “window handle at the top in the middle of the screen.” A tap names the app and lets you switch between fullscreen, splitscreen, and windowing. Alternatively, you can press and hold the handle and drag it down to start windowing.

When a physical keyboard is paired, there’s also: (Windows, Command, or Search) + Ctrl + Down.

After that, “all future apps will be launched as desktop windows as well.”

• “You can exit desktop windowing and display an app as full screen by closing all active windows or by grabbing the window handle at the top of the window and dragging the app to the top of the screen. You can also use the meta + H keyboard shortcut to run apps as full screen again.”
• “To return to the desktop, move a full screen app to the desktop space by using the methods mentioned above, or simply tap on the desktop space tile in the Recents screen.”

Other observations in our testing:

• You resize windows from any corner
• The taskbar can be hidden
• Double-tap the header bar to quick expand and shrink apps
• The desktop windowing environment appears as an “app” in the Recents multitasking menu that you can return to

With Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2, Google is launching desktop windowing as a developer preview on the Pixel Tablet:

You can try it out on Pixel Tablet before it’s released to AOSP more broadly. 

To get started, go to Settings > System > Developer options > Enable freeform windows.