Android P will let you use your smartphone as a wireless mouse or keyboard

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Google is preparing to launch the first developer preview of the next version of Android, currently codenamed Android P. In the next major Android OS update, Google has added the ability to use your Android smartphone as a wireless mouse or keyboard.

The feature was spotted back in 2016 in the development code of the Android Open Source Project, but Google did not enable it for some reason. However, according to reports, Google is expected to enable it with the release of Android P later this year.

What does this all mean?

To be able to use your phone as a wireless mouse or a keyboard, the operating system needs to have a Bluetooth HID profile integrated in the Bluetooth stack. While Google had added the code back in 2016 itself, it was never enabled. As a result, users who wanted to use their phones as a mouse/keyboard had to use apps that required root.

Requiring root to use this feature makes it difficult for a vast majority of users. Once the required Bluetooth code is enabled in stock Android natively, you won’t have to root your phone to use your phone as a mouse/keyboard.

How is it useful?

Being able to use your Android smartphone as a mouse or keyboard via Bluetooth can make it easier to handle presentations or use it as a wireless media remote control. Even though there may not be a lot of demand for such a feature yet, having it available can prove handy.