You'll miss a lot of Googlebook features without an Android 17 phone

The first Googlebooks are finally here, and one of the key selling points is comprehensive integration with your Android phone. However, Google has revealed a significant requirement for this functionality.

Google has repeatedly shown that Googlebooks have deep integration with your Android phone. These cross-device features include task continuity, shared file/storage access, streaming your phone apps on the laptop screen, and synced notifications.

Unfortunately, Google has revealed in a Googlebook reviewer’s guide that these new cross-device features require a phone with Android 17.

That’s disappointing news, as relatively few Android phones have Android 17 right now. Google Pixels generally have the latest version of Android, but things are a little murkier when looking at other OEMs.

Samsung’s latest foldables launched with the Android 17-based One UI 9 update. The company is also pushing out stable One UI 9 to last year’s flagship phones, but owners of mid-range Galaxy phones or even older flagships are still waiting. We’ve also seen limited rollouts from brands like Xiaomi, Motorola, and OnePlus. Heck, OEMs are still launching phones with Android 16, like the POCO F9 series.

In other words, you’re missing out on some major Googlebook features if your phone doesn’t have Android 17. And there’s a good chance your phone won’t have Android 17 in the first place if it’s an older device or mid-range handset. So we really hope Google brings some cross-device features to older Android versions sooner rather than later.

This isn’t the only notable limitation with cross-device services on Googlebooks. The company says some apps, such as those with DRM-protected video or sensitive content (e.g., banking apps), can’t be streamed from your phone to your laptop. Instead, you’ll see a “privacy screen” for these apps. This isn’t a surprise, as we’ve seen similar restrictions for DeX mode and other screen output/mirroring solutions.