Ryan Whitwam / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Your Android taskbar may soon show two recently used apps.
- Currently, the taskbar displays up to 6 pinned apps and 2 recommended apps.
- The latest Android 15 QPR1 beta code replaces app suggestions with recent apps.
Android tablets are usually large enough to comfortably display multiple apps on the screen. That’s why the Android taskbar was introduced a few years ago to speed up the process of launching new apps and switching between them. Google now wants to make multitasking even faster on Android tablets by upgrading the taskbar to show recently used apps.
Google first introduced the taskbar with the Android 12L release in 2022. The original taskbar was a large bar that originally sat at the bottom and spanned the entire width of the screen. To take up less space on book-style foldable devices, Google has hidden the taskbar by default starting with Android 13 QPR2 in 2023. The new taskbar appears temporarily when you swipe up on the gesture navigation handle, hence the name Temporary Taskbar. With the release of Android 15, Google added a way to switch between the old “persistent” taskbar and the new “temporary” taskbar, optimizing the experience for both foldable devices and tablets.
Both versions of the taskbar are part of the system launcher app, so apps that appear on the taskbar are synced with the home screen dock. On Pixel devices, the Android taskbar currently shows up to six apps pinned to the dock and two recommended apps. Pixel Launcher’s app suggestions are based on your recent apps, but also on your most frequently used apps and “routines.” Therefore, the taskbar doesn’t always show recent apps, and you have to open the app drawer, open the recent screen, or swipe the navigation handle to the right to switch to them.
But while digging through Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2, I found code for a new feature that replaces app suggestions on the taskbar with recently used apps. Specifically, two recommended apps will be replaced with two recently used apps, as shown in the video embedded below.
Google hasn’t enabled this feature yet, so we don’t know if the company plans to enable it in the future. However, I think showing recent apps in the taskbar is more useful than showing recommended apps, so I hope that happens. Some Android manufacturers, such as OnePlus and Samsung, already highlight recent apps in the taskbar, but Google bringing this change to AOSP means that others who haven’t implemented this change on their own It will benefit Android manufacturers’ tablets and book-style foldable devices.
