Android will soon remember your external display preferences just like a PC

With the first quarterly release of Android 16, certain Pixel phones gained more flexibility when connected to an external display. Rather than being restricted to simple screen mirroring, they can now project a desktop-like interface via Android’s new Desktop Mode.

While Desktop Mode is great for productivity, you need a mouse and keyboard to really take advantage of it. Without these peripherals, controlling apps becomes difficult unless your external display has a touchscreen. In these cases, screen mirroring remains the better option, as it allows you to navigate using your phone while viewing content on the big screen.

Fortunately, Android 16 still offers screen mirroring, though enabling it currently requires digging through the Settings app. In a future release, however, Android will streamline the process by presenting a diallog immediately upon connection, asking if you want to mirror your screen or launch Desktop Mode. Even better, the OS can remember your preference for how to handle specific external displays.

This new connection dialog is live in the latest 2511 Android Canary release. As shown in the gallery below, the “connect to external display” prompt features buttons to start “Desktop” Mode or “Mirror” the screen, along with a “don’t ask me again” checkbox. Android saves this preference on a per-display basis, which you can later manage via Settings > Connected devices > External display > Default connection behavior.

Previously, enabling “desktop experience features” in Developer Options forced Android to default to Desktop Mode on external screens. Mirroring required a few extra steps: you either had to disable desktop features entirely or navigate to the “External display” settings page to manually toggle “mirror built-in display.” Only then would the system prompt you to mirror the screen.

The new dialog streamlines this process, allowing you to define default behaviors for specific monitors without diving into Settings every time. This brings Android closer to desktop platforms like Windows, which have long allowed users to quickly toggle between mirroring and extending displays. Ideally, Google will also add an option to disable the phone’s internal screen while extending — a standard Windows feature that would help conserve battery life.

Since this dialog is already live in the latest Canary release, we expect it to reach the Beta track shortly. It could appear as early as the upcoming Android 16 QPR3 beta, which we expect to launch soon.