UX and UI considerations

Foldable devices bring different screen size and shape to the market. Hence, the way people use your app may vary from past years. By considering new layouts and navigation patterns, app developers can explore opportunities to build greater experience in larger screen devices.

Handle diverse aspect ratios

On devices where your application takes up the entire screen, large-screen form factors mean you need to allow for various aspect ratios. For example, in the Samsung Z fold series, the aspect ratio of the cover screen is similar to a bar-type device, whereas the ratio of the main screen is close to square. Take a communication app, users may place it in a tall, narrow window at the edge of the screen so they can view and respond to messages while working with another app that occupies the rest of the screen.

There is no magic bullet to addressing this diversity of aspect ratios, you will need to test and support these as best as possible.

However, if your app’s content is unsuitable for certain aspect ratios, use the minAspectRatio flag, introduced in Android 10, or the maxAspectRatio flag to constrain your app within workable aspect ratios.

To be compatible with Samsung foldable devices, you should test your apps for these ratios.

Figure : Galaxy Z Fold series

Responsive Layout

You can make better use of larger screens by considering ways to surface more information or to show content more efficiently.

Spotify is one good example, which is designed to deliver more content and to provide more optimized and convenient navigation according to various screen sizes.

Figure : Spotify in various screen sizes

Find out more on: Android at large: how to bring optimized experiences to the big screen