Android 17 is shaping up to be a major update for cross-device continuity, and a new feature called Handoff could be one of its most important additions.
Spotted alongside Google’s broader Android 17 announcements, Handoff is designed to let users start an app activity on one Android device and seamlessly continue it on another. In short, you could begin a task on your phone, then pick it up on a tablet or foldable without losing your place.
Google describes Handoff as both a background system feature and a developer-facing API. When enabled, Android can surface available activities from nearby devices through the launcher or taskbar. If the same native Android app is installed on the receiving device, the system can launch directly into the same activity using deep linking. This effectively restores your session where you left off.
If the app isn’t available natively, Android 17 will support an app-to-web Handoff fallback. That means you could continue your workflow in a browser instead. In this way, the feature doesn’t simply fail if installations don’t match.
If it sounds familiar, it should; it mirrors Apple’s Handoff technology that has been present on iPhones, iPads, and Macs for years.
At the moment, the feature isn’t live in Android 17 Beta 1, and Google hasn’t provided detailed documentation about supported form factors. However, references to the taskbar suggest it could play a larger role on tablets, foldables and other large-screen Android devices.
It’s also easy to imagine how Handoff might extend to desktop-style Android experiences — for example, starting an email draft on your phone and finishing it on a laptop.
Cross-device continuity has long been an area where Android has lagged behind Apple’s ecosystem polish. If Handoff works as described, Android 17 could take a meaningful step toward closing that gap — provided developers embrace it.
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