Launching cross-device services; strengthening the Android ecosystem

I think there is only one thing I envy about Apple products and that is the ecosystem they have managed to build around their products. It is the reason people get sucked in and have a hard time getting out, and while there are similar options in the Android world, they are limited to devices from the same manufacturer, such as Samsung.

The addition of cross-device services to Android is the second step toward building a more inclusive Android ecosystem (I’d say your Google account is the first), and it’s just started rolling out to Android devices with the first set of features.

Call Casting lets you redirect phone calls to other Android devices

One of the cross-device services that Android phones now support is a feature called “Call Casting,” which fortunately is pretty easy to understand at first glance.

Let’s say you receive a call on your Android tablet that you only use at home, but you then leave the house to go to work or run some errands. Sure, you could hang up and restart the call on your phone so you can leave the house, but that’s a bit clunky.

Call casting will allow you to transfer a call directly to another device, rather seamlessly. Only Google Meet supports this for now, but I expect other apps will join in over time.

With Instant Hotspot you can share the Internet between devices… in the blink of an eye

Sometimes, your Android smartphone’s cellular data can be the only way to access the internet. After all, Wi-Fi isn’t always available. In such cases, if you want to work on your Chromebook, you’ll need to turn on your phone’s hotspot, check your password, and log in to your Chromebook. That’s a bit of time you could be spending on productivity.

With Instant Hotspot, you’ll be able to “automatically share hotspot access with your devices,” which includes Chromebooks, not just Android devices. As long as they’re on the same Google account, you’ll be able to connect to the internet on your other devices in a snap.

Samsung devices will not be able to use the Instant Hotspot feature.

Prerequisites for using cross-device services

For now, Call Casting and Internet Sharing are the only major cross-device services (some apps can make cross-device sharing easier), but the portfolio will surely grow over time. I only have one Android device, but I’m still excited about this development.

Keep in mind that there are some boxes to check before you can use cross-device services. You’ll need at least two devices, both running at least Android 11. They need to be signed into the same Google account and have Bluetooth turned on. To enable this, open Settings, then Google, Devices & Sharing, and toggle “Use cross-device services.”

Then the device will be added to the “Device Group” by default. Devices in the same group can use cross-device services together. However, you can choose to remove the device from the group if you want.

There is one exception to the previously mentioned prerequisites, however. Android Go devices are not supported.