Skype adds Android 11 bubble support as Slack begins testing it

With Android 11, Google finally added support for the long-overdue Bubble notification API, allowing developers to display messages and notifications in a free-floating window on top of other apps. The API was first introduced with Android 10 Beta 2 as an opt-in feature but didn’t make it to the final release. But with the Android 11 Developer preview, the API gained a user-facing setting and was formally incorporated into the OS with the final Andriod 11 release.

However, Android 11 supporting the Bubble API is only half part of the story. To take advantage of the feature, it needs to be implemented by app developers as well. That’s the reason a majority of popular apps don’t support displaying notifications in a bubble yet. So far, we have seen Google Messages and Facebook Messenger adding chat head bubbles support. Telegram is also working on adding the bubbles for a while now. Now, Skype for Android has become the latest app to join the list to support displaying notifications in chat head bubbles.

As first spotted by Twitter user @tonypalus, the latest version of Skype, version 8.67.0.95 to be precise, now supports bubbles for notifications. Our Editor-in-chief, Mishaal Rahman, was able to confirm the same on his smartphone running Android 11.

After updating to the latest version, you should see a new option called Bubbles in Skype’s app settings. Here’s a screenshot showing the feature in action.

Skype – free IM & video calls (Free, Google Play) →

Apart from Skype, it looks like Slack is also testing adding support for bubble notifications in Android 11. Android app developer/reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzz has discovered evidence that the popular team communication app might soon bring the floating notifications to its Android app.

#Slack is working to support the #Android Bubble API pic.twitter.com/ZUGEpss8iH

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) December 15, 2020

The feature isn’t live in the latest stable version of the Slack app yet. However, we’ll be sure to let you known when it finally goes live for Android 11 users.

Slack (Free, Google Play) →

The post Skype adds Android 11 bubble support as Slack begins testing it appeared first on xda-developers.

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