The feature was first spotted in development in 2020
Android has offered native split-view multitasking functionality for quite a few years now. Given the big displays that smartphones come with nowadays, split-view truly lets you take advantage of all that real estate. They are even handier on tablets and foldables, where the bigger display is perfect for running two apps side-by-side. Google was even spotted working on App Pairs for Android 12, which would allow you to launch two apps simultaneously in split-view. However, that feature never saw the day of the light but this could change with Android 14‘s release later this year.
In a series of tweets, Android guru Mishaal Rahman revealed Google added a new launcher flag in Android 14 beta 2 that enables the “save app pair” option. This is tucked in the contextual split-screen menu in Recent Apps view.
Right now, enabling the hidden flag does not do anything indicating the feature is not yet ready for testing. But once it does, you will seemingly be able to use the “save app pair” option to create a home screen shortcut to directly launch two apps in split-screen mode.
More than phones, the app pair functionality will be useful on the Pixel Fold and Pixel Tablet. Their large displays provide an ideal amount of space to multitask with multiple apps at once.
Samsung already offers a similar App Pair feature on its flagship Galaxy S and Tab devices. Even Microsoft provides similar functionality on its Surface Duo lineup. So, once Google rolls out App Pair, it will simply be catching up to a feature that Samsung has been providing for years on its phones.
