Microsoft teams up with Google to improve apps the Surface Duo

Microsoft worked with Google to help developers optimize apps for foldable Android devices.

What you need to know

• Google announced Flutter 2 today, a major update to the cross-platform UI framework.
• Microsoft has worked with Google to improve Flutter on foldable devices like the Surface Duo.
• Microsoft has also worked to help Flutter work well with Windows.

Google's Flutter is a cross-platform UI framework that allows developers to create apps across several platforms that share a single codebase. Flutter works with iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, LInux, and the web. Today, Google announced Flutter 2, a major update to the UI framework. We already covered the fact that Flutter 2 could be a major win for apps on Windows 10. In addition to the update helping bring apps to the web, Flutter 2 helps developers create apps for the Surface Duo and other folding Android devices.

Today, Microsoft released contributions to the Flutter engine that support folding Android devices, including Microsoft's own Surface Duo. Dual-screen devices are still relatively rare, but they're a growing category. The work Microsoft has done helps apps span across multiple screens. It also helps apps work well side-by-side.

We keep track of which apps are optimized for the Surface Duo. There are some impressive apps already, such as Amazon Kindle, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and several Microsoft apps, but it would be great to see this list grow.

Over 150,000 apps on the Google Play Store are built using Flutter. All of those get a free upgrade to Flutter 2. If the developers of those apps take advantage of the new tools to optimize apps for dual-screen devices, the Surface Duo's app experience should get a significant boost.

Microsoft's Surface Duo blog should have a post up about the company's contributions to Flutter, but it's not up at the time of publication.