Summary
- Android 16 Beta 3 is improving external display support for a more desktop-like experience.
- A new “Enable desktop experience features” setting in developer options could let you run desktop mode on just an external display or both your phone and monitor at once.
- Cool as it sounds, the feature isn’t working yet due to a bug.
Google’s next major plan for Android seems to be to turn it into a full-fledged desktop experience, but to pull that off, it needs to get way better at working with standard peripherals and displays. Currently, Android’s desktop mode exists, but it’s nowhere near what users would need to ditch Windows or macOS. However,
Android 16
is making real progress, especially with how it manages external displays. The latest beta shows some serious upgrades, bringing it closer to the desktop experience we expect.
It took an 8-hour flight for Samsung’s DeX mode to finally click with me
Productivity on Android done right
The tech giant has been quietly working on beefing up Android’s desktop mode for a while now, and it’s no secret. Before Google started testing external display tools in Android 16, Android 15 set the stage with some basic windowing features to get things started. Fast-forward to now, and Android 16 Beta 3 is dropping hints about something even cooler.
As spotted by Mishaal Rahman over at Android Authority, there are new strings in the code pointing to a setting called “Enable desktop experience features” tucked into the developer options. This seems to let you tweak how the desktop mode works; either just on a secondary display or on both your phone and the external screen at the same time.
Still a work in progress
Rahman’s discovery is interesting, but the feature isn’t working yet due to a technical issue. If that gets fixed and makes it into the final Android 16 release, the improved external display support could make it much easier to use phones with external monitors, bringing a true desktop-like experience to more people.
At the moment, Android 15’s external monitor features are pretty basic, thanks to a handful of developer options that don’t quite measure up to what you’d get from a laptop or tablet. For example, on Google Pixel phones, you’re stuck with the cursor on just one screen at a time. Furthermore, there’s no quick way to switch between mirroring your screen or extending it. It’s functional, but it’s definitely not as smooth or versatile as it could be.
Rahman suggests that “Desktop View” might just be a placeholder name. Since the feature isn’t working yet, there’s a good chance Google will rename it before the final release.
