Google is pushing for better Android app support on the Galaxy Z Fold 8

Android is a diverse platform, and that’s even truer with the launch of Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series, which features what Google refers to as an “ultra-wide fold.”

Developer oriented blog postGoogle encourages Android app makers to build for the latest foldables by “removing assumptions about screen orientation and size.” Google calls the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 an “ultra-wide foldable,” which isn’t a particularly common canvas for Android apps. Only a few devices, including Google’s original Pixel Foldfits into this category.

Google is encouraging developers to build with adaptive layouts, track the actual space used by an app on these foldable displays, and take advantage of new features like folding awareness, which can help split apps wherever the hinge of a foldable device is found.

Create fluid, adaptive plans: Wide aspect ratios and compact vertical heights demand a fluid UI that is sensitively scaled. Updated adaptive design guideline recommends considering the width of the window class first, then adjusting the height to determine layout changes. Build your layout using flexible containers that allow your content to automatically wrap, spread, and reflow to allow individual components to fit seamlessly into the grid. Check out our page for design inspiration adaptive sample program and dual screen design galleries.

Follow the actual application area: Your app’s screen area rarely matches the physical size of the device, especially on an ultra-wide screen in multi-window, split-screen, or multi-tasking situations. Sometimes even the directions are different. Leverage Window Size Lessons using Jetpack Window Manager library to calculate the exact location occupied by your application.

Another area Google mentioned is how apps handle the camera on foldable devices, such as calculating the camera’s position when the device is folded or unfolded. Apps that adopt a fixed portrait orientation for drop-down devices “are likely to suffer from side, stretched, or cropped front views during these folding transitions,” says Google. CameraX can calculate this.

Advertisement – Swipe for more content

This post also confirms the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and accompanying releases Gemini Nano 4 is the first devices with supportas well as repeating the changes to Wear OS in confirmation of the release of the Galaxy Watch 9 pre-installed with that latest version.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 is available for pre-order now.