mollyiv/chatheads

Chatheads is a demo project that shows how to create floating chat bubbles on Android, similar to the ones Facebook Messenger popularized. These are the little circular avatars that sit on top of whatever app you are currently using, letting you quickly tap back into a conversation without leaving what you were doing. The core idea is demonstrating how an Android app can draw its own interface on top of other applications. Normally, apps are sandboxed to their own windows, but Android does allow apps to request permission to overlay content on the screen. This project serves as a working example of that technique, showing the mechanics of creating a floating, movable element that persists across the entire operating system. A developer building a messaging app, a notification tool, or any feature that needs to stay visible while the user multitasks would find this useful as a reference. For example, if you wanted a floating control panel for a screen recorder or a quick-access button for note-taking, this code shows the foundational approach to make that happen. The README is very sparse and only links to a short YouTube video demo, so it does not go into detail on implementation specifics, supported Android versions, or setup instructions. It is essentially a proof-of-concept rather than a full-featured library, so anyone using it would likely treat it as a starting point to study and adapt rather than something ready to drop directly into a production app.