Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on an Android-wide “Handoff” feature for multi-device syncing.
- This feature will enable access to apps and media across your devices, and even sync notifications between them.
- Apple has a similar Continuity feature called Handoff, albeit without notification syncing.
Last week, we spotted an in-development “App Cast” tool within Google Play Services. Based on the strings, we speculated that Google could allow Android devices to stream apps installed on other hardware linked to your account. It seems Google has bigger plans for App Cast, as it could be one of the tools present in Android’s version of Handoff. Yes, Google seems to be working on Android’s own version of Handoff.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Google Play Services v25.25.31 beta includes these new strings:
Code
<string name="feature_multidevice_sync_summary">Continue tasks and access apps, media, and notifications across your devices</string>
<string name="feature_multidevice_sync_title">Handoff</string>
<string name="notification_sync_feature_switch_summary">Sync notifications across your devices</string>
<string name="notification_sync_feature_switch_title">Notifications</string>
<string name="quick_access_feature_switch_summary">Access your files across your devices</string>
<string name="quick_access_feature_switch_title">Files & media sharing</string>As you can see, the App Cast feature is tied to the upcoming “Handoff” feature. The strings explain that this ecosystem feature is intended for multi-device syncing, letting users access apps, media, and notifications across devices. As is explicitly mentioned, your notifications will be synced across your devices (finally!), and you will also be able to share files and media between them. We know from the previous APK teardown that you will also be able to access your apps on your primary device remotely on your other devices.
Handoff sounds familiar? Well, Apple has a similar Continuity feature called Handoff. Users can start a task on compatible apps on one Apple device and resume the task on a different Apple device, as long as both devices are signed into iCloud using the same Apple account. Samsung also has an App Continuity feature that lets you share and transfer files, answer calls, connect earbuds, enable hotspots, and more across your connected Galaxy devices.
It’s very clear where Google is getting its inspiration for the Handoff feature. Thankfully, the Google Play Services version of Handoff will also sync notifications, which is a big pain point for multi-device ecosystem users as users end up having to clear actioned notifications across multiple devices. We’ve previously spotted the notification syncing feature, but at the time, it wasn’t very clear whether the feature would be a Pixel-exclusive or be coming to all Android devices. With these new strings now being spotted in Google Play Services under the Handoff umbrella, this is likely an Android-wide feature, as long as you have Google Play Services.
Google has yet to announce anything related to Android’s Handoff feature. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.
