- Android will soon let you stash notification bubbles to the side so they take up less space on the screen.
- Currently, notification bubbles are always fully visible on top of other apps.
- The ability to stash bubbles isn’t available yet, but we managed to activate the feature early.
The bubbles API is a neat but sadly underutilized feature that lets messaging apps put conversations in a floating window. If you tap the bubble button in a conversation notification, the conversation opens up in a floating window on top of other apps. When you’re done chatting, you can hit the back or home buttons to minimize the floating window. However, the bubble icon will remain fully visible on the screen, taking up some precious screen real estate. Fortunately, Google is working on a way to make notification bubbles less distracting in the next Android 15 update.
Notification bubbles float on top of other apps regardless of whether or not they’re minimized or expanded. When they’re expanded, they take up most of the screen since they need space to show an entire conversation. When they’re minimized, you’ll only see the circular icon provided by the app for the conversation. Bubble icons are intended to always be visible so you can quickly see and send messages from any screen, but when you’re done chatting, you can drag them to the bottom to dismiss them.