Introduction

As per the recent news from the technological world, Samsung has released a foldable smartphone by the name Samsung Galaxy Z. This is just the beginning of the next revolution in the smartphone design era.

This gadget has changed the game for the app development industry and sent them challenging signals to think creatively. As per the reports of stone temple and webFX, the user’s bounce rate is high, and the conversion rate is low on mobile compared to desktop. 

So it is evident that the user experience generated on a mobile app is not satisfactory even today when we don’t have a foldable smartphone in the market. So it becomes imperative that a mobile app has to be developed by paying so much attention. 

As per Statcounter, 55.4% of the users use the internet on a mobile phone compared to 41.96% desktop users. As per the statistics on Statista, the number of mobile users is going to increase rapidly.

Smartphone users spend nearly 60% of their mobile time on different apps like social media, music, media and games.

How to develop apps for foldable phones? Though it will become challenging to develop foldable phones, the following factors will guide developers for smooth development.

1. Resizable/Responsive App

Make proper research and analysis that you are developing apps that are compatible with foldable phones.

As we witnessed the era of responsive websites and the need for it with the inventions of different digital devices, developers will have to work upon the same situation at the time of development for foldable phones.

Each app must be compatible with a multi-window display to generate a positive user experience for foldable phones. In addition, fonts and other design-related elements have to be enlarged for the larger screens as foldable phones will have it.

If your app sets resizeableActivity=false, the app will cease to support multi-window mode. So always put the above option in the <application> or <activity> section of the project manifest file.

2. Compatibility with two states and postures

Non-foldable phones have a standard flat-screen display and only one screen to do everything. Although foldable phones offer similar features and other functionality with one difference, they unfold like a book and turn a single screen into a dual-screen so the user can work on two screens at a time side-by-side.

So, this needs to be taken into account at the time of developing an android app for foldable phones.

For instance, an app may be running on a single screen at a particular time, and if a user opens up a second screen, the application has to auto adjust on the second screen. Because of this, applications need to support multi-finger touch on the net.

As configuration change is inevitable for an app during a fold or unfold transition, the app should save the state of the UI and should support configuration changes.

Foldable phones can also support different postures like flat state and the half-opened state as shown below, and an app can adapt as per these postures with the help of FoldingFeature class. FoldingFeature class is part of the Jetpack Window Manager library.

By using the FoldingFeature class, a developer can directly check for the following states:

• STATE_FLAT
• STATE_HALF_OPENED

Or developers can use the following properties to recognize different postures like laptop or tabletop or book mode.

• orientation
• isSeparating
• occlusionType

3. Dual Screen Dual Application

With foldable phones, users enjoy the freedom of using two screens for watching movies or playing games to enhance the visual experience, or users can use two screens to run two apps. 

Every application has to be optimized for two screens as well as for a single screen. An easier way is to develop the same application on a smartphone as well as on a tablet.

For example,

A user should run two apps side-by-side with drag and drop functionality, allowing the user to drag text or images from the browser into an email as an attachment.

Start to chat with our business manager for developing apps for foldable smartphones.

4. Quality of the app

Nowadays, Android app developers work with up-to-date android studios having different smartphone screen sizes using built-in testing features. However, the issue with the foldable smartphone is that no software IDE provides a testing platform for its ultra-large screen.

With the Samsung Foldable Phone launch, the company has also launched simulation software to try and test android applications for its foldable phone.

It becomes difficult for app developers to create an app for this type of device unless they have proper simulation software to test their app. However, Android Open Source Project (AOSP) supports several device emulators that simulate foldable and rollable devices’ functionality.

Android Studio’s Android Virtual Device (AVD) Manager supports testing for foldable and rollable phones. At Zignuts, we enhance our mobile app development services and make high-quality and fast-running apps for foldable phones.

To test an application’s compatibility with the foldable phone, one needs to check how an app reacts to the following.

• Configuration changes
• Multi-window mode and multi-resume
• Resizing and new display aspect ratios

5. Multi-windows support is must have

When a user works with a foldable phone, multi-windows support is going to be a must-have feature.

The multi-resume functionalities are expected to be a part of this type of phone. Right now, every smartphone allows multi-windows support with a resume facility.

This feature must also be part of all upcoming foldable smartphones.

6. Must have for designers and writers

Foldable phones will be going to become preferences for designers and writers as compared to regular smartphones.

Some businesses like banking, corporates, Etc., are also looking forward to foldable phones available in the market to launch a redesigned app for large screens to produce a comfortable user experience. Are you looking for Android app development for foldable phones?

As per the international customer study done by Samsung, Galaxy Z fold2 has 96% user satisfaction, and 9 out of 10 customers said they would purchase it.

Though foldable phones have a long way to win over audiences, interest is growing. As per another survey conducted by YouGov on 2000 people, nearly 50% were either ‘Very interested’ or ‘interested’ in this technology.

Lack of innovation in the mobile industry has given customers few reasons to upgrade. However, looking at the positive survey results of different companies, foldable displays can be used as a canvas to deliver a fresh user experience and new utilities that will redefine what a smartphone can do.

7. More data processing by the app

Huawei launched Mate X2 Pro, and Xiaomi has Mi Mix fold; both are foldable phones, and Microsoft is also planning to launch its foldable phone.

These phones have some common features like better cameras, compatibility with 5G technology and NFC Etc.

As these phones operate on 5G technology, a user expects apps that process data much faster. Therefore, it will be challenging for app developers to build such apps. Existing development platforms like android studio have to offer a solution to create such a type of app. Creating an app for a foldable phone requires various technological support.

Why You Should Create Apps for Foldable Phones? Watch now!

Conclusion

Foldable smartphones are a new invention in mobile technology. The development of foldable apps are an extension of developers’ activity with newness. Hire expert mobile app developers.

Highlighted features of foldable phones are divergent from regular smartphones. Therefore, you need to classify how these features influence your app development method. Accordingly, you need to re-design or alter the development process. Taking necessary actions like maximum testing and receiving user feedback will lead to successful foldable apps in your account. Mobile app development companies like Zignuts believe in extending application development to proffer new experiences to users. Let’s start your foldable smartapp together. Get project estimation now.