One Of The Best Features Of The Apple Ecosystem Is Finally Coming To Android

Apple's tight control over the devices in its ecosystem might not impress everyone, but it does allow the company to offer helpful features like Handoff, which enables you to seamlessly pick up a task that you started on one Apple device on another nearby Apple device. iPhone owners have long enjoyed the Handoff feature, taking their browsing session to an iPad or Mac, or switching their FaceTime calls from a Mac to an iPhone. Android owners were, until now, dependent on third-party apps or their manufacturer's limited implementation to emulate parts of the Handoff experience. However, Google is finally bringing a new feature called 'Continue On' that's pretty similar to Apple's Handoff.

The 'Continue On' feature was introduced at Google I/O 2026 and will come as part of Android 17, which is currently in its beta phase and is expected to be officially released later this summer. As it's a feature that'll be baked right into the Android operating system, it should be available on any Android device running version 17 or newer.

According to Google, "Continue On" is designed to offer cross-device continuity. Basically, just like Handoff, you'll be able to initiate a task on one device and seamlessly pick it up on another, as needed. While it's supposed to be bidirectional, its initial implementation will be limited to mobile-to-tablet continuity. Meaning you'll be able to start something on your phone and continue that task on your tablet seamlessly, but not vice versa.

Say you are writing an email in Gmail on your Pixel 10, but you feel constrained by the screen real estate. When you pick up your Android tablet, you'll notice a new Gmail icon in the dock with a tiny phone in one corner. Tapping that Gmail icon will take you directly into that same unfinished email, and you can continue seamlessly. While we can expect to see "Continue On" work with the majority of Google's own apps, such as Gmail, Keep, Docs, Sheets, and Calendar, at launch, its compatibility with other apps will depend on the respective app developers.

Google's implementation of the Continue On feature is pretty similar to Apple's Handoff feature, as all devices need to be nearby, connected to the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth turned on, and they should be logged into the same user account. However, there are some key differences that set the two apart, at least based on what Google has shared until now. For example, Google is offering a web fallback option as part of the Continue On implementation.

This means that if you have started an activity in an app on your Android phone that you want to pick up on your tablet, the app developer can allow you to continue the same task on a website if the tablet lacks the same app and a web version is available. Moreover, if the developer believes that the tasks you are trying to take to your tablet are better accomplished in the web version, it can ask 'Continue On' to prompt you to use the web browser. Apple's Handoff strictly requires you to have the same app on both devices to work.

That said, Apple's Handoff has a notable advantage that's seemingly absent from the initial implementation of 'Continue On'. The Handoff works between iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches; however, for now, Google's Continue On seems limited to Android phones and tablets. It's unclear if the same will be supported on Wear OS smartwatches, Chromebooks, or the newly announced Googlebook. Moreover, without Windows or Mac integration, the majority of Android phone owners won't be able to take their tasks from their phones to their laptops or desktops.