The clamshell foldable phone’s cover screen is now a lot more useful with this new mod.
What you need to know
- A new launcher turns the external display of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 into a full-fledged screen.
- This app simulates a secondary operating system on Samsung’s clamshell foldable phone.
- It lets you take actions from notifications, open the app drawer, launch third-party apps, and more.
Samsung has no doubt improved the extenal screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 3 compared to its predecessor. Aside from making it a lot bigger than before (4x larger than the previous model), the phone’s cover screen now offers more control, such as checking notifications or controlling any music that’s playing via a widget.
That’s a big upgrade from just letting you frame selfies when the phone is folded, answering calls, or viewing the date and time. However, it still doesn’t make the 1.9-inch external display as useful as the main screen. A new launcher developed by jagan2 changes that.
A new launcher for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 called CoverScreen OS is now available to download via the XDA forums and Google Play Store. The developer notes that it “simulates a secondary OS on your Z Flip’s cover screen.”
The launcher lets you open the app drawer, add widgets to the home screen, and use quick setting toggles without flipping the phone. The mod also includes support for navigation gestures and voice keyboard. You can even take actions on notifications such as marking a message as read or sending a quick reply.
The latest version of CoverScreen OS adds support for Samsung Pay so you can easily access the digital wallet service by long pressing the home screen. By default, all apps launch in landscape mode, but you can change it to portrait if that’s more convenient.
That said, the cover screen on one of Samsung’s best foldable phones is still too small for all practical purposes. Still, you might want to give it a shot if you want to respond to a WhatsApp message, for example, directly from the cover screen.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
$930 at Amazon
$900 at Best Buy
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is an intriguing device because it combines flagship specs with a low price and a foldable display. You’d be hard pressed to find a more innovative phone on the market with this combination.