Popular Apps for Foldable Devices
Are you searching for mobile apps for foldable devices?
According to the Foldable Insight report, the global foldable smartphone market grew 64% YoY (year over year) in 2023.
Businesses should plan to optimize their apps for foldable mobile devices to gain an advantage of a growing customer base, just like Google announced in the Google I/O 2023 that it plans to redesign over 50 apps for foldable UI design.
Developing apps for foldable mobile phones requires a deep understanding of foldable technology, adaptive layout development, dual screen support, screen continuity, third-party API integrations, app testing and optimization, etc.
If you don’t have a professional team with this relevant expertise to take on that task, then submit a request for a complimentary discovery call, and one of our tech account managers who managed similar projects will contact you shortly.
Let’s now discuss apps designed for foldable devices.
Software Apps for Foldable Devices
Top foldable apps include the following:
Microsoft Office
Microsoft has partnered with Samsung to integrate Microsoft Office apps into their foldable smartphones, including Galaxy Z Fold3 5G and Galaxy Z Flip3 5G.
An optimized Microsoft Office experience makes it easier to edit and create documents and presentations with ease from anywhere.
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Usually, standard smartphone screens are not very feasible for using Microsoft Office apps, but foldable devices change that. Some Microsoft app features for a foldable device include the following:
- The entire main toolbar on Microsoft Word or Excel shows on the screen instead of as a hamburger icon.
- The screen splits into two on foldable phones, which allows one to edit a document on one and open reference apps on another.
- You can also share a PowerPoint presentation with your team on one and attend a call on the other screen.
- A large screen makes visible comments, spellings, and changes, like on a desktop or laptop.
- The drag-and-drop feature, similar to the desktop experience, allows you to add images and text quickly.
- You can use S Pen for a better experience, such as annotating PowerPoint presentations, clicking through slides, etc.
Google Calendar
The Google Calendar app for foldable phones offers an adaptive layout. Users can see all the information at once on the entire screen. The monthly calendar is displayed on the left, and daily tasks are on the right.
There is a navigation bar on the top that makes it easy to switch between different views. The transition is smooth from a split screen to an entire screen display.
YouTube App for Foldable Devices
YouTube app is among the best apps for foldable phones like Samsung Galaxy Fold. It gives a seamless user experience in landscape and portrait modes.
The app shows the two thumbnails of Home and Search as on laptop screens. It also shows a side navigation bar of recommended videos in the landscape view.
The flex mode allows users to view videos on the top screen and write comments or view descriptions on the bottom screen.
The two-column layout on the YouTube Music app offers a more immersive user experience. You can view controls, scan through song lists, reorder your playlists, etc., on one side and open the song player on the other fold.
Microsoft Teams
It is another Microsoft app specially designed for foldable devices. The layout adapts to the screen sizes of foldable tablets and smartphones for an enhanced user experience.
With a foldable screen mode, users can view presentations on one screen and view team members on another screen. Call participants can also pull up a whiteboard to illustrate with an S Pen.
Kindle
The foldable phones offer a better Kindle app experience than Kindle itself. You do not have to quickly turn pages due to a wider screen view.
The 3:2 display of Galaxy Fold offers a great reading experience with no continuous scrolling as on other smartphones.
The device folds in the middle, and the multi-window app gives a feel of reading a physical book. The display also seems much sharper and clearer on foldable mobile devices than on other ebook readers. The app switches between a folded and unfolded screen seamlessly.
Outlook App for Foldable Devices
The Outlook app for foldable devices is an optimized version of the app developed for a standard smartphone. The app screen is divided into two panes where on one screen you see all the emails and email content on the other.
The user experience is very similar to the desktop or laptop view. For example, you can easily change the page sizes, adjust the calendar view, etc.
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Google Maps
Google has also optimized Google Maps for foldable devices. The map expands on the entire screen and gives users a good view of their required location with the nearby area. The information panel appears on the left-hand side and expands with a click.
According to some reviews, the navigation part is not very pleasing. The route is split into 75% on the left side and 25% on the right, instead of being centered on the middle of the screen or the “fold”. Nevertheless, the map view is much bigger and better than traditional smartphones.
Spotify App for Foldable Devices
The popular music streaming app is also ready to offer an enhanced user experience on foldable smartphones. The optimized layout gives a sidebar on the left side to change songs, switch between menus, use player controls, etc.
Clip Studio Paint
This is another app perfect for a foldable phone layout. The wide screen and S Pen make sketching a way better and fun experience with all the editing tools in view and a big canvas to draw on.
You can split the screen with your sketch on the top and all the customization options below for easy access.
Clip Studio Paint is a paid app that offers one hour of free training before you purchase it for unlimited use.
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Foldable devices make working with PDFs better via apps like Adobe Acrobat Reader. The app offers all the standard features of a PDF viewer and editor to edit and comment on a PDF file with a better view and layout. Users can also scan documents and save them as PDF files.
Calm
The calm is now redesigned with a vertical navigation layout. This makes it easier to use the app on devices with larger screens, as users tend to hold them vertically.
Calm has also optimized its apps for foldable devices as the layout switches seamlessly between an unfolded and folded screen.
Peloton App for Foldable Devices
Peloton has also optimized its apps for foldable devices. The app layout is also redesigned for larger screen sizes. Users can easily follow exercise videos now hands-free while placing the Pleton app in a tabletop mode.
If you open your foldable device at a 90 90-degree angle, the top half displays the workouts, and the bottom user interface shows your health metrics.
GeForce Now
Main desktop games like GeForce Now and Xbox Game Pass are now available for playing on foldable smartphones. You can connect your joystick to play games on large screens. Some games even offer in-game controls.
The gaming experience is enhanced with a responsive layout spanned on multiple screens with a better aspect ratio than traditional smartphones.
Fortnite
Existing apps for shooter games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, PubG, etc., are also now optimized for foldable devices with flexible OLED displays. These apps offer a better view of shooting and navigating a map on a double-sized screen.
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Planning for Foldable App Development?
Foldable mobile phones with a wide screen size offer more creative opportunities for developers to design immersive and engaging applications.
All the apps we discussed above would give you an idea of how big companies leverage foldable devices to provide enhanced user experience.
With the increasing adoption of foldable devices, it is high time for business CEOs and CTOs to consider integrating foldable technology into their software solutions.
Being an evolving technology, you require developers with a thorough understanding of the foldable technology and skills to develop apps for such devices.
They should be experts in adaptive designing for double and single-screen layouts, app optimization with touch pen, state management for continuity on multi-window apps, etc.
Moreover, your developers should be proficient in programming languages for mobile apps, SDKs and libraries, flexible mobile database technologies, cloud computing, testing apps, etc. These developers should have a deep understanding of the latest mobile app development trends.
If you do not find such talent on your project team, DevTeam.Space can help you via a field-expert software developers community.
You can either outsource your complete foldable app development project to our dev teams or hire individual developers to enhance the expertise of your current app development team.
All our developers are vetted and work full-time on clients’ projects. We are solely responsible for protecting your intellectual property and replacements in case of resource turnover while assisting you in project management.
If you wish to know more about how we can help with innovative foldable mobile app development, leave us your initial project specifications via this quick form. One of our account managers will get in touch with you shortly.
FAQs on Apps for Foldable Devices
You must consider two screen states, add support for a multi-window mode, manage states for app continuity on folded and unfolded screens, etc., while making foldable apps. As the foldable phone technology is still evolving, your developers should continuously learn new skills to handle all possible foldable form factors and use cases. Make sure you partner with high-quality developers motivated to excel in cutting-edge technologies. You can easily find such developers at DevTeam.Space.
Statistics show the global demand for dual-screen devices is continuously growing. The sell-in volume for foldable smartphones was 2.5 million units in the first quarter of 2023. The foldable smartphone market worldwide is expected to reach USD 54.05 billion by 2028. Android phones are leading the market for foldable devices.
Some popular apps optimized for a seamless experience on foldable screens include Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Microsoft Office, Spotify, Xbox Game Pass, Fortnite, Call of Duty, YouTube, Candy Crush, etc.
Alexey Semeney
Founder of DevTeam.Space
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Alexey is the founder of DevTeam.Space. He is award nominee among TOP 26 mentors of FI's 'Global Startup Mentor Awards'.
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