Google likes Apple’s Continuity feature so much it’s making its own

Imitation is flattery and Apple has come in for so much flattery since it introduced the iPhone.

First, Google tweaked its own Android mobile OS to look more modern, then Samsung famously sought inspiration from the iPhone design, and now Google wants to copy one of Apple’s most useful features, Continuity.

Details about the plan were revealed by Android industry watcher Mishaal Rahman. The leak claims Google will make it possible to link Android powered devices together in a way that’s similar to the experience of using Apple’s Continuity.

What is Continuity?

Continuity is an Apple-developed feature that lets you synchronize content and services between devices when they are logged into your Apple ID. Apple has taken this several steps further, and now lets you share tools between devices, such as using your iPad to scan documents to your Mac or using the camera on your iPhone as a Mac webcam.

Additional examples of what Continuity can do on Apple’s systems include:

• Wirelessly send documents, images, and other digital content between devices with AirDrop.
• Auto Unlock your Mac when wearing an Apple Watch.
• Use your iPhone or iPad to add sketches and shapes to a Mac document and see changes live on the Mac. Or sketch something on a mobile device to add to a document on the Mac.
• Use your iPad as a second display with Sidecar.
• Show your Mac desktop in a FaceTime call with Desk View.
• And, my personal favorite, use your Mac’s mouse and keyboard to control up to two nearby Mac or iPad devices, and work seamlessly between them, or copy content between machines using Universal Control and Universal Clipboard.

You can do other things, too. Continuity is really useful and lets Mac, iPhone, and iPad users combine the power of all their devices to get stuff done as and when they need to do so. Useful, huh?

Google seems to think so.

What is Google doing?

Android users won’t get everything Apple has iteratively introduced in Continuity. In part, this probably reflects the more complex nature of Android; with multiple devices available, not every device is able to run the software, while some won’t even run the relevant version of Android OS.

All the same, Google will likely improve and extend the capabilities over time.

At this point, Rahman promises:

• Call switching between devices, so you can jump between connected devices during calls.
• Internet Sharing, which might work the same as a Personal hotspot on an iPhone, allowing you to turn your device into a 4G/5G mobile web connection.
• Recently revealed plans by Google to transfer music playback between signed in devices.

The features will be enabled within a new “Link Your Devices” menu un Settings>Google Devices & Sharing, Rahman wrote.

Of course, the catch is that just like Apple, these features will only work on Android devices, which includes tablets and smartphones, but not PCs. So, this will be quite useful if you are in some kind of business that requires you to carry two or more phones with you, or use an Android tablet as well as a phone.

Though, having said that, perhaps not everything needs to change over time, given the furor Apple is facing over its decision to change the way we end calls on iPhones; in iOS 17, you must find a small red End button at the bottom right of the display, which will confuse a lot of people for a while, I think.

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