Samsung helping Google add handwriting-to-text input to Chrome with Android 13

It seems like we will see one more Samsung feature make its way to Android 13. Esper’s editor Mishaal Rahman has tracked multiple threads in the Chromium Gerrit by a Samsung engineer, which shows that Google could add the S-Pen’s handwriting-to-text feature on Chrome with Android 13.

Apparently, this feature will make Google Chrome on Android 13 more tablet-friendly. Android Police notes that this new handwriting-to-text feature on Android 13 will at least be available on editable, non-password text fields on Google Chrome and WebViews. Interestingly, owners of Samsung devices with an S-Pen running Android 13 can already use this feature.

In order to be used with a Samsung device, you need to make use of the Samsung Keyboard app as only it can connect to Chrome to provide the DirectWriting service. This is done by using a combination of an API called DirectWriting and a commit that enables handwriting-to-text input into Chromium.

While Samsung is working on adding S-Pen gestures to handwriting-to-text mode through Chrome, other Android devices will only be able to use a set of platform-level stylus writing APIs with Android 13. However, they need to be enabled through a developer option toggle.

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