I hated multitasking on my Pixel until I tried Android 17 app bubbles

The software experience can make or break a smartphone for me, which is exactly why I continue to gravitate towards the Pixels. Google phones feel comfortable in a way that very few Android phones achieve, and I love that.

Naturally, the moment Android 17 started making headlines With features like app memory limits, more granular controls, and improved location transparency, my curiosity was piqued. I’m irrationally excited about new software updates, so resisting the beta was never an option. I installed it on my Google Pixel 10a just to see how these features would actually feel in everyday use.

Simply put, this has become one of the most interesting beta experiences I’ve had in a long time. There’s a lot to explore beneath the surface and I’ve spent days snooping around every little corner. But somewhere in the middle of all that experimentation, a multitasking feature took over how I use my phone.

He bubble feature in Android 17 It has solved one of the biggest multitasking frustrations I’ve always had with brick phones. Before moving to the Pixel 10a, I was using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7which has completely changed my expectations around multitasking. When you get used to having multiple apps open side by side on a large foldable screen, going back to a “normal” phone suddenly becomes much more limiting than you imagine.

No, I’m not comparing them, but that change hit me immediately on the Pixel 10a. Every time I needed to jump between apps, I found myself constantly relying on the recent apps menu: I’d close one, scroll through the app carousel, open another, and then repeat the whole process. It worked, sure, but it never felt smooth after experiencing how easy multitasking can be.

That’s where Android 17’s app bubbles changed that pace for me. I pinned the apps I use most and now switching between them feels absolutely instantaneous. I simply tap a bubble, jump to the app, swipe to another when necessary, and continue what I was doing without constantly interrupting my flow.

What surprised me most is how usable they actually are. Yes, I know: At first glance, these little floating windows look narrow or restrictive, but once you start using them, they rarely look like that. For quick responses, checking information, copying between apps, or even casual browsing, the experience seems more convenient than I expected; almost like carrying a small slice of flip-style multitasking on a plate phone.

This feature allows you to pin up to five apps at a time. I know, that sounds a little restrictive at first, but five apps is enough to keep me productive without turning my screen into a chaotic pile of floating windows struggling to survive, which, knowing me, is exactly what would have happened without a limit.

Over time, the setup itself started to feel like a small snapshot of my daily routine. My current bubble setup on the Google Pixel 10a includes Instagram, WhatsApp, Chrome, Slack, and YouTube Music – basically a mix of work and distractions. I’m a big believer in work-life balance, which, in my case, means responding to Slack messages while watching videos I didn’t need to watch at all.

Naturally, Instagram and WhatsApp are at the top because they are the apps I use most frequently. And look, I know myself well enough to admit that there isn’t a single phone session that doesn’t somehow end in a fatal mess. Instagram instantly opens through the bubble, and from there it’s business as usual: scrolling through reels, sharing memes with friends, and reacting to stories. The experience also feels absolutely normal. Although the design of the application is more compact than usual, it does not look simple.

That convenience becomes even more useful with WhatsApp. Unlike Instagram, I rarely open it on my own unless a notification appears. But since literally everyone I know exists there (friends, family, people from work, and random groups), the notifications never stop. So instead of searching through my app drawer every time, I just tap the bubble and jump right into the conversation.

What surprised me, though, is how quickly Slack captures my attention despite all of this. I know this sounds incredible after hearing how emotionally invested I clearly am on Instagram, but the moment a Slack notification pops up, I instinctively tap the bubble, skim the message, decide if it’s a real emergency, and get to work or move on with my life.

And once the notification chaos calms down, Chrome and YouTube Music quietly complete the functional setup. My brain refuses to let random thoughts go unsearched, so Chrome is there for every curious moment that can’t wait another minute. Meanwhile, YouTube Music remains mostly in the background doing its thing. But every time I hear a song I like or suddenly remember a song from 2017 at 2 pm on a Tuesday, the bubble makes it ridiculously easy to jump on, play it, and add it to my favorites before my goldfish attention span moves on to something else.

While I primarily use app bubbles to maintain some sort of work-life balance, if you’re one of those productivity superheroes, you can turn all your work apps (like Gmail, Docs, and Slack) into bubbles and multitask endlessly. Someone has to keep the productivity economy alive.

This is what it really comes down to. The best part about Android 17’s bubble feature is not only that it allows me to multitask across multiple apps on a regular phone, but that it somehow manages to do everything without making me feel overwhelmed.

That’s exactly why this feature has brought a strangely unbalanced balance to my workflow. The apps I use most are always floating within my reach, and instead of constantly opening, closing, and searching for things, I simply move between them throughout the day.

And that change has completely changed the feel of the Pixel 10a in daily use. It’s still compact, lightweight, and still has that easy-to-live charm that I liked from day one. It turns out that the real problem was never the hardware; I just needed software that could keep up with a brain that was constantly juggling five things at once.