How to use the cover screen on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip

Part of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip’s appeal is what you can do with the half-open phone in Flex mode, e.g. B. make a hands-free video call or take a selfie. But thanks to the small 1.9-inch OLED on the front, aka the cover glass, there’s still plenty you can do with the phone closed.

It might be small, but it’s a place where you can read notifications, check the weather, set a timer, and control your smart home—all without having to open your phone. You can also customize the display with an animated background image or your own photo.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Here’s how to take control of the Z Flip’s deck screen and get the most out of it. For reference, we used the Galaxy Z Flip 4 to write the guidelines below.

Basic controls

First, an introduction to the basic controls. By default, the title screen doesn’t show anything until a notification arrives. You can activate the display by tapping it twice. From here, swipe right to view your notifications and left to view widgets. Swiping down from the top of the screen will bring up a quick settings panel, and swiping up from the bottom will access Samsung Pay.

clock style

When the screen is active, you can also long-press the display to change the wallpaper and clock style to another preset option. To adjust these options, you need to open the phone’s main display. Tap there Settings > Cover Page > Clock Style.

Here you can choose between a simple or a graphic style. Tap on any of the basic styles, and you check an option at the bottom of the page to add a clock wallpaper (they’re all on a black background by default). You can select one of the wallpapers (yawn) provided by Samsung to set behind the clock. or if you want to have funallows you to select a photo or video from the phone’s gallery.

You can only choose one custom photo or image to use for all 12 basic watch styles – you can’t assign a different photo to each one, for example. With your photo selected, you can tap Customize to change the clock’s font color.

Below the basic clock style options are some graphic options with plenty of customization options to make it exactly how you like it. Tap one and click Customize at the top of the screen to see all your options – for example, swap out the animated bright yellow flower image for a purple flower with a bee buzzing around the scene. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, so be sure to take a look at all your options if you’re not into the standard graphics.

Cover wallpapers

You can also cycle through different cover screen wallpapers without having to dive into the menus. Double tap the deck screen to activate it, then long press the screen. From here you can swipe left and right between the different clock and graphics options. Some days you go for a minimalist vibe; Sometimes you want the little bee to buzz around – it’s your world.

widgets

From the settings menu on the main screen, tap widgets toggle individual widgets on and off and rearrange them. Your options are:

• weather
• Next alarm clock
• Today’s schedule
• timer
• music
• calendar
• direct dial
• Samsung health
• SmartThings Scenes

They’re all simple on/off switches with no customization options, except for direct dial – tap it to add up to three contacts to call from the cover screen. You can change the order in which the widgets appear by tapping Rearrange and drag and drop. When you’re happy with that, navigate back – there’s no save button to press.

Always on display

There’s one more way to customize your cover screen – by turning on the Always on Display, or AOD. By default, the title screen will light up when you get a notification and show the clock if you double-tap it, but it will time out and turn off entirely unless you enable AOD. It uses more battery, so be careful – especially if you’re a power user.

To activate the AOD, go to Settings > Lock screen > Always on display. Beat Always on display and set the main toggle at the top of the page to On. You can use the options below to set the display to always be on or stay on during scheduled hours. Other options like clock style and Show music information refer to the lock screen of the inner display.