Ideally, you should be targeting SDK 24 and above. Apps targeting version 23 and below can still run in Desktop Mode, however, some features may not work correctly.
If you are not targeting SDK 24 and above, users will receive this message when opening the app in Samsung DeX: "Some functions of this app may not be supported in Samsung DeX.”
Unless apps declare that multi-touch or touchscreen are required, they will run in Samsung DeX.
To run your app in Desktop mode – which features a resizable window – you must follow these key requirements:
For more information, see Modifying your app in the DeX developer guide.
Your app might have targeting the wrong targetSDKVersion. Android:resizeableActivity is supported when the targetSDK version is greater than or equal to 24 (Android N). IF targetSDKVesion is under 24, activities are only resizable when the screenOrientation is not set as fixed. Check to make sure you do not have this code in your manifest:
<activity android:screenOrientation="portrait | landscape"> </activity>
When an app is launched in Samsung DeX, it adopts 1 of 2 different window types:
If an app is having issues working with a mouse and keyboard in Samsung DeX, check to make sure they are not explicitly disabled. Ensure these 2 statements are not declared in the Manifest:
<uses-configuration android:reqTouchScreen="finger" >
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" android:required="true">
This message appears when an app doesn't support Multi-Window Mode. Multi-window is a feature supported by devices with Android 7.0 Nougat or later. It allows the user to freely resize the app screen. Ensure that you are targeting SDK version 24 and have declared the following in your manifest:
<application android:resizeableActivity="true"> </application>
For more information on implementing Multi-Window, see Android's Multi-Window reference guide.
These layout issues may occur if you have not modified your code appropriately to handle the density display changes required to run apps in Samsung DeX. For example, you may need to provision separate images in both xxhdpi & mdpi for your app in order for it to display properly.
For more information on density changes, see Androids guide on run time changes.
This can occur if your app custom UI framework does not handle the density change from xxhdpi to mdpi properly. Try checking the onConfigurationChanged() method. Sometimes the .newConfig parameter can hold the old density value. For instance, when switching from DeX Mode to Mobile Mode, the density value in the newConfig parameter sometimes still reports 160 dpi.
This can occur if the resources for the activity – fetched using Activity.getResources()– are not changed when switching from Samsung DeX mode to Mobile mode. To avoid this problem, ensure that resources do not remain persistent from the same application session.
No. Samsung DeX is preloaded in Galaxy S8, S8+, S9, S9+, and Note 8 devices.
Please report errors that occur while using Samsung DeX. By letting us know the issues that need to be fixed, you are directly contributing to how our service improves with future updates. How to report issues:
Error reports contain log data and may include some personal information. Reported information is used only to analyze the issues reported.