Chat With AI About Anything on Your Screen — Android

You’re reading an article. Halfway through, you hit a paragraph that makes you think, “Wait, what does this actually mean?” So you copy the text, open ChatGPT or Gemini, paste it in, ask your question, read the answer, switch back to your browser, and try to remember where you left off.

By the time you’re back, you’ve lost your place. The flow is gone. And if you have a follow-up question? You do the whole dance again.

I built Arc’s Chat with AI feature to kill that dance entirely. Instead of leaving your screen to go find an AI, the AI comes to you — as a floating chat that sits on top of whatever you’re reading, knows what’s on your screen, and lets you ask questions in real time without ever switching apps.

In the last 30 days, 897 users started chat sessions through Arc, sending 2,879 messages — questions, follow-ups, and deep dives about whatever was on their screen at that moment. That’s not a hypothetical feature people might use. That’s a workflow people are already living in.

The Problem With AI Chat on Android Today

Here’s the thing about ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and every other AI chatbot on Android: they’re apps. Full-screen, separate, do-their-own-thing apps.

To ask them about something you’re reading, you have to:

Leave your current app (browser, email, Reddit, whatever)
Open the AI app
Copy or describe what you want to ask about
Ask your question
Read the answer
Switch back to your original app
Try to pick up where you left off

That’s seven steps for what should be one thought: “What does this mean?”

Google’s Gemini tried to fix this with an overlay mode, but users have been complaining since April 2026 that it keeps opening as a full app instead of actually overlaying. Samsung’s Now Nudge does on-screen suggestions, but it’s one-shot — no multi-turn conversation. And the new copycat apps like Floaty Touch are validating the category but still building the basics.

The gap is simple: nobody lets you have a real, multi-turn conversation about what’s on your screen without leaving your app.

That’s exactly what Arc’s Chat with AI does.

How Chat With AI Works — Three Entry Points

Arc’s floating sidebar sits on top of any Android app. From there, you can start a chat three different ways depending on what you’re doing:

1. Screen Chat (Green Badge)

You’re on any screen — an article, an email, a Reddit thread, a product page. You expand Arc’s sidebar and tap “Chat Screen.” Arc instantly:

Extracts the visible text using Android’s Accessibility Service
Identifies which app you’re in
Shows the captured content as an “Original Context” message
Opens a floating input bar at the bottom of your screen

No screenshot is taken automatically. No content leaves your device unless you send a message. You’re in control.

You type your question, and on the first keypress, the floating input smoothly expands into a full chat interface (60% screen height, with a 400ms crossfade animation that feels natural — not jarring). The AI reads the captured context plus your question and responds. You can ask follow-ups, and the AI remembers the whole conversation — up to 50 messages per session.

Example: You’re reading a news article about a new phone. You tap Chat Screen and ask, “What are the main new features?” Arc reads the article from your screen and answers. Then you follow up: “How does the camera compare to last year’s model?” Arc answers, still grounded in the article you’re reading — without you ever leaving the browser.

2. AI Summary Chat (Blue Badge)

If you’ve already generated an AI summary of an article, you can tap “Ask Questions” on the summary screen. The chat opens with the full summary as context — so you can dig deeper into specific points without re-reading the whole thing.

Example: A summary says “Solar panel efficiency increased to 30%.” You ask, “Why does 30% matter? What was it before?” Arc explains, grounded in the summary it already generated.

3. Custom Action Chat (Purple Badge)

After running a custom action — like translating text to Spanish — you can tap “Ask Questions” on the result screen. The chat opens with the action result as context, so you can refine or explore.

Example: You translated a message to Spanish. You ask, “Is this formal or casual?” Arc explains the difference and offers the formal version. No re-running the action, no copy-pasting the result somewhere else.

Ask AI With Screenshots — Visual Context On Demand

Sometimes text isn’t enough. You’re looking at a chart, a design, an error message, or a weird UI layout — and your question is visual.

Arc’s Chat with AI lets you attach a screenshot to any individual message. Tap the camera icon in the input bar, and Arc captures your current screen. A small 📷 badge appears on the input to confirm the screenshot is attached. When you send the message, the AI receives both your text and the screenshot — so it can analyze what you’re actually seeing.

Use cases I’ve seen from real users:

“What does this error mean?” — with a screenshot of a crash dialog
“Explain this chart” — with a screenshot of a graph from a financial app
“How can I improve this layout?” — with a screenshot of a design mockup
“What’s wrong with this code?” — with a screenshot of a stack trace

The screenshot is processed privately on your device, and the first time you use it, Arc shows a clear info dialog explaining exactly what happens. Screenshots are per-message — you choose when to attach, not the app.

Chat History That’s Actually Searchable

Here’s something most AI chat apps get wrong: they treat your conversation history as an afterthought. Arc doesn’t.

Every chat session is saved to a persistent, searchable history with:

Date grouping — conversations organized chronologically
Color-coded badges — green (Screen Chat), blue (Summary Chat), purple (Custom Chat) — so you instantly know what type of conversation it was
Compact cards showing the title, context preview, timestamp, and message count
Full-text search across titles, conversation content, and original context
Multi-select bulk delete — long-press to select multiple conversations and delete them at once

I use this constantly. Last week I needed to find a conversation I’d had about a specific article on renewable energy. I typed “renewable” into the search bar and found it instantly — across titles, messages, and the original context that was captured from my screen.

Empty sessions — where you opened chat but didn’t send any messages — are automatically hidden. Your history only shows actual conversations, not clutter.

Real Usage: What the Numbers Say

I pulled Arc’s GA4 analytics for the last 30 days (June 29 – July 29, 2026), and the Chat with AI usage tells a clear story:

897 users started chat sessions
1,004 chat sessions created
2,879 messages sent in those sessions
~3.2 messages per session on average — meaning people aren’t just asking one question and leaving. They’re having conversations.

For context, in the same period:

1,415 users generated AI summaries (the most popular Arc feature)
512 users executed custom actions
753 users used text-to-speech
336 users generated flashcards
5,018 total active users across all features

Chat with AI is the third most-used feature in Arc, behind summaries and the core overlay itself. And the 3.2 messages-per-session average tells me people are genuinely exploring — asking follow-ups, drilling into details, having real back-and-forth conversations about what’s on their screen.

Why This Beats App-Switching to ChatGPT or Gemini

I’m not going to pretend standalone AI chat apps are bad. ChatGPT and Gemini are excellent at what they do. But they’re built for conversations in their own space — not for conversations about content you’re actively reading somewhere else.

Here’s the difference:

	Standalone AI Chat (ChatGPT, Gemini)	Arc Chat with AI
Context	You describe or paste content manually	Arc captures screen text automatically
App switching	Required — leave your app, open AI, come back	None — chat overlays on top of your app
Follow-ups	Yes, but you’ve already left your content	Multi-turn, up to 50 messages, stay in your article
Screenshots	Some support image uploads, but you leave your app	Per-message, captured from current screen, one tap
History	Yes, but generic	Searchable, color-coded by chat type, linked to original context

The core insight: the best AI chat about your screen happens on your screen. Not in a separate app that doesn’t know what you’re looking at.

If you’ve read my earlier post about why every AI assistant on Android makes you leave your app, you know this is the pattern I’ve been fighting. Arc’s overlay — which I wrote about in the reduce app switching on Android guide — is what makes chat-with-screen-content possible at all.

Getting Started: Chat With AI in 4 Steps

Install Arc from the Play Store and grant Accessibility permissions (this is what lets Arc read your screen content)
Open any app — your browser, email, Reddit, anything with text
Expand Arc’s floating sidebar and tap “Chat Screen”
Type your question — Arc captures the context automatically and the AI responds

That’s it. No copy-paste. No app switching. No describing what you’re reading. Just ask.

Who This Is For

News readers who want to dig into articles without losing their place
Students reading dense material who need instant clarification
Professionals reading emails and wanting to ask “what does this want me to do?” without leaving their inbox
Researchers comparing sources and wanting to ask questions about each one in context
Anyone who’s ever copied text from an app, pasted it into ChatGPT, asked a question, and then sighed at the effort

If that’s you, Arc’s Chat with AI was built for exactly this moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I chat with AI about what’s on my Android screen without switching apps?

Yes. Arc’s Chat with AI uses Android’s Accessibility Service to capture text from your current screen, then opens a floating chat overlay on top of whatever app you’re in. You ask questions and get answers without ever leaving your article, email, or document.

Does Arc automatically take screenshots when I use Chat with AI?

No. Screenshots are user-controlled and per-message. Arc captures visible text via the Accessibility Service automatically, but screenshots are only taken when you tap the camera icon. The first time you use it, Arc shows an info dialog explaining that screenshots are processed privately on your device.

How many messages can I send in one Chat with AI session?

Each chat session supports up to 50 messages. The AI remembers the full conversation history, so you can ask follow-up questions that build on previous answers. If you reach the limit, you can start a new conversation.

Is Arc’s Chat with AI free?

Yes, Arc is free to try on the Google Play Store. You can chat with AI about your screen content, generate summaries, use the AI writer, and more without paying. Premium features are available for power users who need higher usage limits.

Can I search my past AI chat conversations?

Yes. Arc saves all chat sessions to a searchable history. You can search across conversation titles, message content, and original captured context. Conversations are color-coded by type (Screen Chat, Summary Chat, Custom Action Chat) and organized by date.

Try It Now

If you’ve ever wanted to ask an AI about something you’re reading — without the seven-step app-switching dance — Arc’s Chat with AI is the answer.

Download Arc free from the Play Store →

Install it, open any app, expand the sidebar, tap “Chat Screen,” and ask your first question. That’s all it takes.