Samsung Galaxy Z update expands One UI 3.1.1 to earlier Flip and Fold devices

By Chris Burns/Aug. 31, 2021 10:04 am EST

This week Samsung released their latest One UI 3.1.1 update to a bunch of foldable devices. With this release, Samsung expands features only otherwise found on Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3 to devices released in the past couple of years. This includes Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G, Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Galaxy Z Flip, and the original Galaxy Fold. The first devices to get this update will be the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and first to Flip devices – the original Fold will get the update later.

This update for Android devices in Samsung's foldable lineup includes features newly enabled by One UI 3.1.1. The one major feature that'll be available on all foldable devices for Samsung is Drag & Split. This feature allows the user to drag a link to the edge of their screen to open it in a new window. This allows the user to skip the opening of a new tab and the switching between windows.

Two new feature sets appear on Galaxy Z Fold and Fold devices only. These are "Rotate All Apps" and "Multi-Active Window and Natural Window Switching." Rotate All Apps will (hopefully) make all apps "smoothly transition to the proper UX" be they portrait or landscape style. This remains a "Labs" feature, so it's not necessarily going to work perfectly right out the gate – but when it's switched on, "even vertically fixed apps can be rotated 90 degrees."

With Multi-Active Window and Natural Window Switching, you'll be able to work with multiple windows for apps at once. You'll be able to use "up to three" apps at the same time and arrange said apps to your liking.

A new Labs feature called "Customized App Aspect Ratios". In Labs – Customized App Aspect Ratios – you'll find individual apps with four options. App default, 4:3 aspect ratio, 16:9 aspect ratio, and full screen should be available for each individual app. This feature is also relegated to Galaxy Z Fold devices.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G, and Galaxy z Fold 2 5G users will see updates across AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile USA this week. They'll be "rolling out" this week, starting today. So you might not see the update for a couple of days – but it SHOULD arrive this week.