AssembleDebug / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Gemini’s split-screen experience is coming to candybar phones.
- It was previously limited to large-screen devices, like the Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold.
- A Telegram user alerted us about the feature, and we confirmed it’s working on our Pixel 9.
Last year, Gemini introduced a split-screen shortcut for large-screen Android devices such as foldables and tablets. The feature worked on Samsung devices, the Pixel Tablet, and the Pixel Fold. Now, Google appears to be bringing this capability to traditional “bar” phones as well.
Telegram user @Itachiuchiha23x spotted and alerted us about Gemini’s split-screen feature on their Pixel 8 Pro. Notably, they are using a recent beta version of the Google app (16.35.63.sa.arm64 beta), which ensures the feature works on their phone. We tested it on our Pixel 9 running the same Google app version and can confirm it’s starting to roll out.
So, what does it do? When you open the Gemini overlay on any app, you can now press and drag the Gemini bar upward to enter split-screen mode. This splits the screen in half, stacking both Gemini and the app you were using on your display. On larger-screen devices, you can also drag the Gemini bar left or right for a side-by-side split. Here’s a video showing how it works on the Pixel 9.
The feature could be useful for multitasking, but rollout remains limited. Since you need a beta version of the Google app for it to work, folks using the current stable version of the Google app will see Gemini’s split-screen mode until Google rolls it out more widely. Our Pixel 10 Pro XL doesn’t support it yet, and dragging the Gemini bar there still launches the full-screen overlay.
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