If you have a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, then you've probably played around with some of the unique features that relate to the foldable display, namely Flex Mode. It allows users to make use of the fact that the phone can be folded halfway. If you're interested in what it can do, then read on to learn more!

What is Flex mode?

Flex mode is a feature that's built into the Galaxy Z Flip 4, which we loved during our review, and you don't need to do anything to enable it. The feature activates when the main screen of the phone is folded halfway. It utilizes the strong hinge of the Samsung foldable to use one half of the device as the main screen and the other half as a trackpad, keyboard, or display for relevant information related to the content being viewed on the top half. This is convenient for hands-free use by placing the phone on a flat surface.

Flex Mode is currently only compatible with a limited number of applications. However, among the supported apps are pre-installed options such as the Camera and Gallery. Flex Mode can effectively divide the screen and display relevant information on both halves. For example, using YouTube with Flex Mode allows the top half of the display to show the video and the bottom half to show additional content like comments and recommended videos.

Not every app supports Flex Mode or has special features for it, and some apps have extra features on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 that don't on the Galaxy Z Flip 4. For example, on the Fold 4, using Flex Mode will net you additional features in the Calculator app. Those aren't present on the Z Flip 4 because of the smaller screen.

How to use Flex Mode and enable it for unsupported applications

Since Flex Mode is automatically enabled on the Galaxy Z Flip 4, you can use it by simply folding the screen halfway. However, make sure that the orientation lock is disabled. Keep in mind as well that Flex Mode is only available on Samsung foldable devices, so not all apps are optimized for it by default. Your mileage will vary depending on the apps that you're testing.

However, if the app that you're using doesn't have integrations with Flex Mode, you can still force it to use a Flex Mode UI. You can half-fold your phone and press the pop-up at the bottom to enable Flex Mode, and from there, you can access a few extra features.

On the leftmost image, you can see the icon appear in the bottom left that looks like a half-folded phone. Pressing that button will enable Flex Mode, bringing up the UI that you see at the bottom in the next two screenshots. If you're using a music app, you can seek through the music that's currently playing, but the other buttons have functions too. The buttons below are as follows:

• Notifications: Tapping on this button will pull down the notification shade which you can send back by swiping up.
• Screenshot: The next button allows you to grab a screenshot, which can be useful when the phone is half-folded.
• Brightness & Volume: The next two buttons will bring the brightness and volume sliders, respectively.
• Touchpad: Lastly, you have a touchpad button, which enables a PC-style touchpad and a cursor that moves around the top half of the display.

You can do the following with the touchpad:

• One-finger click action.
• Open the menu with two-finger touch (right-click).
• Scroll up and down operation with 2 fingers, left and right, by swiping with two fingers.
• Zoom in/out when pinching with 2 fingers.

Using Flex Mode on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 isn't the most convincing use case for why you should pick one of these devices up, but it is fun to play around with and is one of the features that makes it one of the best smartphones you can buy. While I don't use it for any apps that I have on my device, mostly because I feel it's a lot more interesting on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Nevertheless, it's great to see Samsung innovating with new features like these. They're fun to play around with, and adjusting the UI of the app that you're using based on the screen's flex state is interesting. It will be something to watch and see how Samsung improves it in the future.