One of the best features in the Apple ecosystem is finally coming to Android

Apple’s tight control over devices in its ecosystem may not impress everyone, but it allows the company to offer useful features like Handoff, which lets you seamlessly resume a task you started on one Apple device on another nearby Apple device. iPhone owners have long appreciated the Handoff feature, transferring their browsing session to an iPad or Mac, or switching their FaceTime calls from a Mac to an iPhone. Android owners have, until now, relied on third-party apps or their manufacturer’s limited implementation to emulate parts of the Handoff experience. However, Google is finally offering a new feature called “Continue” which is quite similar to Apple’s Handoff.

The “Continue” feature was introduced during Google I/O 2026 and will be part of Android 17, which is currently in beta and expected to be officially released later this summer. As this is a feature that will be built directly into the Android operating system, it should be available on any Android device running version 17 or later.

According to Google, “Continue On” is designed to provide continuity between devices. Basically, just like Handoff, you’ll be able to start a task on one device and seamlessly resume it on another, as needed. Although it is intended to be bidirectional, its initial implementation will be limited to mobile-to-tablet continuity. This means you’ll be able to start something on your phone and continue that task on your tablet seamlessly, but not the other way around.

Let’s say you’re writing an email in Gmail on your Pixel 10, but you’re feeling limited by screen real estate. When you pick up your Android tablet, you’ll notice a new Gmail icon in the dock with a small phone in one corner. Tapping on this Gmail icon will take you directly to the same unfinished email and you can continue seamlessly. While we can expect to see “Continue” working with the majority of Google’s apps, such as Gmail, Keep, Docs, Sheets, and Calendar, at launch, its compatibility with other apps will depend on the respective app developers.

Google’s implementation of the Continue On feature is quite similar to Apple’s Handoff feature, as all devices must be nearby, connected to the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth enabled, and they must be signed into the same user account. However, there are some key differences that set the two apart, at least based on what Google has shared so far. For example, Google offers a web fallback option as part of the Continue On implementation.

This means that if you started an activity in an app on your Android phone and want to bring it back to your tablet, the app developer can allow you to continue the same task on a website if the tablet doesn’t have the same app and a web version is available. Additionally, if the developer believes that the tasks you are trying to perform on your tablet are better accomplished in the web version, they may ask “Continue” to prompt you to use the web browser. Apple’s Handoff strictly requires you to have the same app on both devices to work.

That said, Apple’s Handoff has a notable advantage that appears to be absent from the initial implementation of “Continue On.” Handoff works between iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple Watches; However, for now, Google’s Continue On seems limited to Android phones and tablets. It’s unclear whether the same will be supported on Wear OS smartwatches, Chromebooks, or the recently announced Googlebook. Additionally, without Windows or Mac integration, the majority of Android phone owners won’t be able to transfer their tasks from their phone to their laptop or desktop computer.