- When you press Alt+Tab on a keyboard connected to a tablet running Android 14, a small row of apps appears near the top that you can cycle through.
- This app strip shows you six of your most recent apps.
- Pressing Alt+Tab on earlier versions of Android would simply bring up the full recents screen, which doesn’t have a visual cue showing which app is selected.
Over the last few years, Google has been hard at work improving the experience of using Android on large-screen devices. It released its first tablet-oriented OS update in years, Android 12L, in early 2022, and every new OS update since has included incremental improvements to the large-screen experience. Last year’s Android 14 release was no different, adding features like an improved taskbar and the ability to force apps to adopt a specific aspect ratio. Although these two changes were added in quarterly feature updates to Android 14, there was one change introduced in Android 14’s initial release that slipped under the radar until now: a revamped Alt+Tab experience.
In Android 13 and earlier, pressing Alt+Tab on a Bluetooth or USB keyboard connected to an Android tablet or other large-screen device would simply bring up Android’s recents screen. While you could cycle through apps by pressing the Tab key while continuing to hold down Alt, there wasn’t a visual cue that showed you which app you selected. Furthermore, quickly pressing Alt+Tab wouldn’t switch to the most recently used app; instead, it would briefly flash the recents screen and then return to the current app. Compared to desktop operating systems, the way Android handled Alt+Tab presses made for a clunky multitasking experience.