How to enable and use ‘Flex mode’ on the Galaxy Z Fold 4

The main feature of the new foldables from Samsung is their ability to fold down the middle like a pocket-sized notebook. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is obviously better suited to act as something close to a notebook. It lets you relive the netbook and miniature laptop nostalgia from the early days. Samsung has also put more effort into making the Galaxy Z Fold 4 feel like a traditional notebook by adding some new features to Flex mode. But what exactly is this flex mode and how can you enable and use it to take full advantage of the folding screen?

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What is Flex mode?

Flex mode is a feature built into the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4. It is activated every time you use the phone’s main screen half folded. It essentially takes advantage of Samsung Foldable’s sturdy hinge and uses one half of the device as the main screen, while the other half can be used as a trackpad, keyboard and just half to display some important information about the content consumed above. It comes in handy if you do that Place the phone on a flat surface for hands-free use.

In case you’re wondering, Flex mode currently only works with select apps. As a result, only a handful of applications can really take full advantage of Flex mode. Supported applications such as Camera, Gallery and Calculator automatically distribute relevant information and screen elements on both halves of the display. For example, YouTube is also a supported application and you can see how the top part of the display is used to show the video itself, while the bottom half is used to show other relevant content like comments about the video, recommended videos, etc. and more .

Samsung’s calculator, on the other hand, also shows more features on the bottom half of the screen, while the top half lets you review what we’ve entered and view results. You can also use Flex mode while taking photos on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and you get camera controls as well as a preview of your last picture down while the viewfinder stays up. Other supported applications have similar layouts to display relevant information.

How do I enable Flex mode?

This particular feature is enabled by default on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, so all you have to do is fold the Z Fold 4’s screen in half to use it. Also, make sure you have turned off the orientation lock, otherwise it won’t work. You can check this by looking for a lock icon in the notifications/quick settings menu and making sure it is disabled. Flex mode is exclusive to Samsung foldables, which means not all apps are optimized to take advantage of it by default. Samsung has a list of applications that support Flex mode by default. Here, look:

• calendar
• calculator
• camera
• watch
• gallery
• Internet
• youtube
• zoom
• phone
• Samsung free
• Samsung health
• Samsung TV Plus
• Google duo

How do I enable Flex mode for unsupported apps?

More apps will be updated to take advantage of Flex mode, and Samsung says compatibility will increase over time. However, you can enable Flex mode for almost any app on your phone by following these simple steps:

• open that settings page and look for an option called Advanced features.
• In it, look for the laboratories Option and select it to see a set of experimental features.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Flex mode panel.
• On this page you can select the switch next to the app you want to use with Flex mode to turn it on.

Once done, you should now be able to fold the phone in half and enable Flex mode for just about any application. You’ll see the content move to the top half of the screen, while a directional pad will appear below.

Using Flex mode with unsupported applications

For applications that do not officially support Flex mode, you will see a directional pad in the lower part of the display. As you can see, this directional pad has five buttons that you can interact with by tapping them. Here’s what the buttons do:

• Notifications: Tapping this button pulls down the notification bar, which you can swipe up to bring back.
• Screenshot: The next button lets you take a screenshot, which I find very useful as it can feel weird to press the power and volume down buttons when the phone is placed on a flat surface like this in front of you .
• Brightness & Volume: The next two buttons bring the brightness and volume controls.
• touchpad: Finally, you have a touchpad button, which activates a PC-style touchpad and cursor that moves around the top half of the display. Touchpad controls are fairly simple – use two fingers to scroll, pinch to zoom, tap or double-tap on-screen items to perform required actions.

Flex mode invokes the same UI for all unsupported apps. I find it useful in apps like Google Chrome where you can use the cursor for different things. But it doesn’t do much for apps like Twitch, for example. I just find it weird to stare at a blank bottom half when that space could be used to display live chat. The lack of these features is understandable with unsupported apps, but that’s not even my main concern.

Personally, I found the touchpad to be a little finicky. I don’t like that the touchpad surface itself is pretty small, rather than allowing you to use the entire bottom half as a touchpad by temporarily hiding the control pad. I often scroll or try to move the cursor outside of the touchpad only to find I’m doing it wrong.

The overall experience of using Flex mode doesn’t convince me when it comes to unsupported apps. But that also has more to do with the fact that the OneUI software running on Android 12L isn’t exactly cursor-friendly. There’s also no way to adjust the cursor’s sensitivity yourself, which I think would have made things a bit easier and more useful.

Well, that’s all you can do with the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4’s Flex mode. It might not be the most useful feature for getting the most out of your Galaxy Z Fold 4, but it works well for the most part. Want to try Flex mode? Let us know by dropping a line in the comments below.