Google is cloning Apple's Handoff feature for Android 17, and Apple users should be happy about it.
Revealed during the "What's new in Android" talk at Google I/O 2026. The feature is called Continue On. It lets users start an Android app on one device and pick it up on another connected to the same account. An activity from your phone appears in your tablet's dock, with a "Handoff Suggestion" label.
Open a Google Doc on your Pixel phone, and the same document shows up ready to edit on your Pixel tablet. At launch, Continue On only works from phone to tablet. Google says bidirectional support is coming, but has not said when tablet-to-phone handoffs will arrive or when tablet-to-mobile transfers will be supported. The feature will be available to test in Android 17's RC1 (release candidate) build. Google is leaving implementation details to developers: apps can hanedd off to the same app on another device, or open the web version if the target app isn't installed. That means a Gmail thread on your phone could open directly in Chrome on your tablet.
Android cloning iOS features dates back to the first Android smartphones. Steve Jobs famously accused Google of copying the iPhone.
Since then, borrowing has gone both ways. Apple adopted widgets, customizable home screens, and notification controls that first appeared on Android. The 9to5Mac editorial makes the case that feature copying benefits everyone. It pushes both companies to innovate and prevents complacency. In the case of AI, Apple users directly gain from Google's work: many Apple Intelligence features are powered by Gemini models.
Continue On arrives alongside Google's announcement of Android-powered Googlebook laptops last week, signaling broader Android interoperability ambitions. Whether Google can match the polish of Apple's Handoff, which launched in 2014, depends on developer adoption and how fast bidirectional support ships.
