Android 16’s Rumored Split-Screen Upgrade May Prove That Three’s a Crowd

I wondered why Android Intelligence was polling people on whether or not they use Android’s split-screen. It looks like Google is testing whether tablets running a future version of Android 16 should allow more partitions to the screen than ever before. According to Mishaal Rahman, a noted code sleuth with a knack for catching on with what’s next on Android, this year’s software update will enable large screens running Android to split into three! That means using three apps side, by side, by side. What more could you want?

Rahman took a little screen recording of the current developer preview to show the interface quirk that suggests this is coming soon. “When I opened two apps in split-screen mode and then attempted to drag and drop a third app, I noticed that there were previews for three positions I could drop the app in,” he writes. “This suggests that Google is indeed working on implementing support for three-way split-screen multitasking in Android 16.”

Rahman has been pretty on-the-money with his code sleuthing in the past, which makes all this the more believable. The latest operating system version, Android 15, added desktop windowing support in last year’s update, so it’s clear that Google has been considering an eventual multi-app future.

This is the first time Android would have three-apps-in-one baked directly into the source code. Other manufacturers figured it out on their own. For instance, the Open Canvas UI by OnePlus is considered an inspiration behind this since Android fans have been loudly lauding how the OnePlus Open handles multitasking. Open Canvas lets you do the same thing: run three apps simultaneously. OnePlus partitions the screen three ways, with the two dominant apps taking up 45% and 45% of screen space and the tertiary app waiting for your tap to bring its 10% sliver to the forefront. The idea is that all three apps are ready when you need them, without the visual overload.

Samsung’s devices also perform this kind of split-screen magic on the OneUI software, though it is not as streamlined as a screen partitioned into three pieces. On the Galaxy Z Fold 6, you can split two apps vertically on one side of the 7.6-inch inside display and one on the other half of the screen, thus running three apps. But you can’t run them parallel to one another across the screen, probably because of the inside display’s 4:3 aspect ratio. Like OnePlus’s Open Canvas feature, the ability is only available to Samsung devices.

Google has yet to confirm a triple-screen mode, but it’s likely that something like this could be added to Android’s multitasking offerings. With foldable and tablet devices making up more of the platform’s product lineup, the source code must keep up with how people want to use their devices.