Conversations and Bubbles

There are very few user-facing features in Android 11. One is the re-introduction of “bubbles” as an extension of the notification system:

This is tied to a new “conversations” system for notifications, with an eye towards messaging apps and similar sorts of situations where you are interacting with another person.

From “Chat Heads” to Bubbles

In 2013, Facebook debuted the “chat heads” UI for their Android app. These allowed the user to participate in Facebook chats while being (mostly) in other apps, by having a floating avatar of your chat partner appear over the UI of whatever app you were in.

Technically, this was somewhat of an abuse of the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission and related system-level windows. Facebook’s “leadership” in this area led many other developers to apply the same technique. However, allowing arbitrary apps to interpose arbitrary UI in front of other UI has security risks, and Google is starting to restrict the use of SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW as a result.

However, Google recognizes the utility of this sort of system, which is why they are adding bubbles as a framework-supported, user-controllable option for the same sort of effect… albeit one that is tied to a “conversation”.