One-Handed Mode in Android 12

When you’re strolling and holding a cup of coffee or eating a burger at a diner, isn’t it often just more convenient or comfortable to use your phone one-handed? This is where the One-Handed Mode feature comes to play. Nowadays, since the screen size of phones is about 6 inches, it is hard to operate using only one hand. Many people have reached the point where they have to use two hands to complete tasks that, in theory, might be completed with one. In such cases, you can just activate the One Hand mode, which will make your screen smaller so you can keep working while eating.

Several smartphone manufacturers have produced one-handed mode versions, but Google has now incorporated it into the system with Android 12. The feature, as the name suggests, lets you use your phone with one hand, which is ideal for devices with large displays and large sizes, such as the Pixel 6 Pro. This feature is quite similar to the iPhone’s reachability feature.  Simply bringing the areas that are difficult to reach closer, making them significantly easier to get. You’ll need an Android 12 device to enable one-handed mode. If you think that you might need this feature for your future needs then continue reading to find out how to enable it.

What exactly is One-Handed Mode?

Providing customers with a wonderful experience is everything that a good company strives for. When clients feel appreciated and known, the company benefits the most. Since customers are the backbone of a company, with utmost care. Thus, incorporating proper technology into your client services may give successful customer care.

According to research by Accenture, 33% of consumers mention ease of use as a key factor when buying a smartphone. The most important factor in generating satisfied clients over the long run is the ease of use. People will not only enjoy your product, service, or technology but also. Small phones that could be used with only one hand have been out of style for a while. While a larger screen is great for watching material and playing games, it has resulted in making many phones impossible to use one-handed. To compensate, companies usually incorporate software to improve one-handed usability.

One-handed mode is a pretty awesome feature available in android 12 or newer versions, which helps shrink the screen size, making it much simpler to access various buttons using only one thumb. It is temporary and comes in quite handy as it is easier to reach the elements within the top navigation of the app. Once it is enabled on your device, all it takes is a simple slide-down motion at the bottom of your screen to use it. When the one-handed mode is on, the working area will immediately shrink to the bottom half of the screen so you can quickly access objects at the top with only one finger.

One-Handed Mode in Samsung Galaxy Phones

Now you can get Apple’s reachability feature in an android with the help of One-Handed Mode. If you are wondering how to activate the One-Hand Mode feature in your Samsung smartphone, follow these steps:

To switch to one-handed mode

1. Swipe down from the top of your main screen and then click on the settings option.
2. Scroll down towards the bottom and tap “Advanced features”. 
3. Click on one-handed mode and turn it on.

Another simple approach to finding it is to type “One-handed mode” in the search bar at the top of the settings screen. 

Now we can see there are two options available to choose how one-handed mode is activated. Based on what kind of navigation you are using, you have the “Gesture” option and the “Button” option where you double tap the home button. You can change your navigation type by going to Settings -> Display -> Navigation Bar and choosing the type of navigation that you would like to have.

Gestures help you to navigate across screens, for swiping up and down, and several other actions without using buttons. They intend to make your phone more accessible, so you can operate it with just your thumb. Make sure you use gesture navigation on your device to enjoy the One-Handed Mode feature.

Once One-Handed Mode is activated, you can continue using the phone as you normally would, switching between the apps while staying in the shrunken state.

When the screen is shrunken

You can tap the arrow icon to move the small-scale screen to the left or right and by taking hold of the corner, you can also resize the screen.

To switch back to normal

Tap anywhere on the blurred area of your screen or double-tap the phone’s lower left or right side.

One-Handed Mode in Google Pixel Phones

To switch to one-handed mode

        1)Swipe down from the top of your main screen and then click on the settings option.

Scroll down towards the bottom and tap “Advanced features”.

Click on one-handed mode and turn it on.

You also see a few other options. Enable “Exit When Switching Apps” to have a One-Handed Mode exit instantly when you leave an application. Finally, you can choose a “Timeout” number to have One-Handed Mode quit after a specific time of inactivity.

When the screen is shrunken

You can tap the arrow icon to move the small-scale screen to the left or right and by taking hold of the corner, you can also resize the screen.

To switch back to normal

Tap anywhere on the blurred area of your screen or double-tap the phone’s lower left or right side.

Apps for using your phone with One-Hand

Since the one-handed mode is only available in android 12 or newer versions, for those having an older version of Android, you can use several apps that act as a replacement for the One-Handed mode.

The best apps for using the phone with one hand are:

• Nova Launcher
• Opera Touch
• Gboard
• Swipe Master

Nova Launcher

The best Android launcher right now is called Nova. It is a user-friendly launcher that consists of advanced features to enhance your home screens by adding a personal touch to them. Nova acts as a powerful and customizable replacement for your home screen, allowing you to alter the app drawer, icon size, icon style, and a plethora of other settings. You can also save and easily reload all of your own presets. Despite having so many features, Nova is efficient, light, and simple to use.

However, there is one small drawback. The free edition does not include all of the amazing features. You will have to pay a few dollars to get all of the features contained in the Nova Launcher Prime version.

Opera Touch

Opera Touch, a new browser from Opera, is the fastest and most secure browser available for android users. This browser was made especially for touchscreens and one-handed use. The browser screen always displays a swipe-based button that provides direct access to instant search. Since Opera’s known and proven security measures are built right into our secure browser, there is no need to install third-party extensions for standard or enhanced privacy.

Gboard

Gboard is a virtual keyboard app that is available in the play store. There is a Google Search engine as well as a quick search and sharing feature for GIFs and emojis. It is a predictive typing tool that suggests the next word depending on the context,  It provides a menu to change the settings of the keyboard and change the row. Gboard has a built-in one-handed keyboard that shortens the keyboard length and width and makes it convenient for using it with just one hand. It has a variety of amazing features such as custom themes, slide typing, and search options. 

Swipe Master

This app allows you to access your recent applications and some other tools present on your phone. All these things can be done with the help of a simple gesture with one hand. It has been designed to offer a seamless and clean user experience. Swipe Master can be easily customizable and is possible to combine with other apps. It can be downloaded for free from the android play store and is under 3MB+ in size. Swipe Master predicts and organizes your apps depending on their importance and your prior usage habits.

What other new features does Android 12 have?

Android has always been about personalization, and Android 12 improves on that, emphasizing providing a truly very personal phone that adapts to you, building an operating system that is by default secure and private by design, and enhancing the compatibility of all your devices. Android 12 is more personalized and customizable, with a stronger emphasis on performance and privacy. It is one of the most important upgrades to the operating system in recent times, Android 12 is a significant release. It comes after Google prioritized usability improvements in Android 10 and Android 11. Android 12 enhances system performance, enabling your phone to work in complete sync with you. There are plenty of new features for you to explore in it like:

Wallpaper-based Dynamic Theming

It was introduced to allow users to personalize their Android phones to match their characteristics. As a result, instead of the default accent color, customers will receive a personalized color that matches their wallpaper.

Game Dashboard

To enhance your gaming experience, Game Dashboard provides several valuable tools and information, as well as the option to record your games, stream your gaming session to YouTube, and display a live FPS counter to provide you with a clearer picture of your device’s performance. While the Game Dashboard feature is wonderful, it does not support every game and does not offer a list of compatible games. As a result, the Game Dashboard icon will only appear in a few games.

Quick Tap

In Android 12, Google has introduced a new Quick Tap feature. You can open an app, adjust media playback, view recent apps, take a screenshot, and activate Google Assistant with a simple double-tap on the backside of your phone. This feature is currently only accessible on Pixel 4a (5G) and newer devices. Its main limitation is that it functions only when the smartphone is active and hence unlocked.

The Quick Tap gesture may be accessed under Settings -> System -> Gestures. Now, according to your preferences, pick an action to allocate to Quick Tap. Stronger taps may also be required to activate the shortcut.

Privacy Dashboard

It will reveal which apps have used your location data, microphone, camera, and other permissions in the past 24 hours. You will then get a detailed analysis, right down to the minute, of when an app uses particular permission. Once that’s done, if something seems wrong, all it takes is another tap to access the permission list of any app. Three simple steps are required to access the Privacy Dashboard: System Settings -> Privacy Section -> Private Dashboard Scrolling Screenshots

Scrolling Screenshots

Users are constantly required to capture long lists. Scrolling screenshots allows you to record as much of a website or app as you wish. It is no longer necessary to snap multiple screenshots to capture a long list. Rather than taking a single screenshot, tap Capture more from the toolbar tip. By specifying the beginning and end points, you can capture only the relevant portion of the screenshot.

Google’s implementation in Android 12 exclusively allows you to capture scrolling screenshots of apps, not web pages viewed through Chrome since scrolling screenshots are only possible if your app implements a standard “View-based UI,” which Chrome doesn’t quite support.

Conversation Widget

Regardless of the app you use, this widget will allow you to access your most often-used chats with a single tap. You can add the conversation widget to your home screen by going to the widgets section and selecting conversation followed by the conversation widget. The widget can be adjusted according to your preferences. Now, select the recently opened conversation to be displayed in the widget. The chat can then be opened instantly by touching it.

Conclusion

And that is all there is to enabling and utilizing one-handed mode on Android 12. One-Handed Mode can be an actual game-changer for anyone who wants to reach those upper elements in apps. Hopefully, by reading this article you have learned how to enable this feature on your phone. Try it out to see if navigating your Android device with one hand becomes a little bit simpler. If not the feature, you may still get the desired one-handed effect by using any of the aforementioned apps. You can also test out some of the other wonderful features that Android 12 has to offer to improve your experience.