- Android 14 improves multitasking on tablets with a new Alt+Tab feature for physical keyboards.
- Unlike previous versions, Alt+Tab now shows a clear preview of recently used apps with the current one highlighted.
- Quickly pressing and releasing Alt+Tab lets you switch to the last used app, while holding Alt and tapping Tab cycles through other apps.
- You can still access the full recent apps screen by navigating to the “show more apps” option in the new Alt+Tab preview.
Android 14 Alt+Tab feature coming. Android 14 brings many innovations to improve the user experience on tablet devices.
We previously told you that Android 15 will bring a dark mode for all applications. The previous operating system, Android 15, already has such a feature. I wonder if it will also come to Android 15.
With the new feature, the Alt+Tab key combination on physical keyboards can be used on Android-based tablet devices. Here are all the details…
Android 14 Alt+Tab feature: How will it work?
The feature, which was noticed by developer Huy Minh while testing a custom Android 14 QPR2 ROM for Raspberry Pi 5, was that in previous Android versions, pressing Alt+Tab on a physical keyboard connected to a tablet would bring up a screen showing a list of recently used applications. However, this screen did not visually indicate which application was currently selected. In addition, pressing and releasing Alt+Tab quickly would only show the recently used screen for a short time and return to the current application instead of switching to the last used application.
Android 14 significantly improves the use of Alt+Tab. When you press Alt+Tab, a horizontal strip will appear at the top of the screen, showing your six most recently used apps. The currently selected application is highlighted in this strip with a grey frame. You can quickly switch between applications by pressing Tab while holding the Alt key. Moreover, you can now jump directly to the last application used by quickly pressing and releasing Alt+Tab.
If you want to see the entire recently used screen, just Alt+Tab until you reach the “show more apps” option at the end of the app ribbon. When you highlight this option and release the Tab, the full recently used screen will open as before.
Featured image credit: Jay Zhang / Unsplash
