Samsung’s One UI 7 update has finally reached foldables, in beta at least, with its debut on Galaxy Z Fold 6 revealing the addition of two new features found on other devices such as Google’s Pixel Fold and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
In the foldable game, Samsung is the original, but it’s not necessarily the most advanced. That includes in the software, where other foldable makers – and Android itself for that matter – have come up with ideas that Samsung hasn’t yet implemented for all of its users.
One of those ideas is the simple ability to “swipe to continue” apps on the outer display. This functionality has been present in foldables from Oppo, Honor, and other brands for quite some time, and made its way to Android directly last year on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold (and the original Pixel Fold too).
Samsung has finally added a “swipe to continue” option on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 now, with a setting available to allow apps that were in use on the inner display to be available when the device is closed with a simple swipe up on the lock screen.
Beyond that, the One UI 7 beta on Galaxy Z Fold 6 also introduces support for an auto-hiding taskbar. This is a change Google made to Android’s taskbar back in Android 13, with the static taskbar going away in exchange for one that shows up with a half-swipe, not unlike how the iPad taskbar works.
Samsung never adopted this change through its Android 13 and Android 14 updates, rather sticking with a static taskbar that takes up space on the display. While Google has come around to leaving that as an option for users, the downside to Samsung’s approach was that it was all or nothing. Either have a taskbar that eats up a certain portion of the display, or turn it off altogether.
Now, Galaxy Fold users have the choice (h/t Jeff Springer).
These changes won’t arrive for all Fold users until Samsung releases the full One UI 7 update which is confirmed to start in April 2025.
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