10 tweaks for your new phone

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is now official, bringing a larger secondary screen, a gapless design, and several other refinements.  If you want to get the most out of your new Galaxy Z Flip 5, we have a few tips and tricks that can help you. Let’s jump right in.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 tips and tricks

Some of the tips are more practical advice, such as buying a case and accessories, but we’ll also explore some of the features you should set up and try on your new Z Flip 5.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 isn’t cheap, so you’ll want to protect your investment with a phone case. To help with that, we have a guide that helps take you through the best Galaxy Z Flip 5 cases you can buy.

This will help protect your phone from bumps and scuffs, but what about the displays? Thankfully the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s main display already has a built-in screen protector from Samsung. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about the Flex Window. The good news is that plenty of great Flex Window screen protectors are available that add a bit more protection to your device.

These days, most new phones don’t come with much more than the device itself and maybe a few small extras like a SIM tool, documentation, and a USB-C cable. That means you might want to buy a few accessories.

First, you’ll want to make sure you have a phone charger capable of 25W charging to make the most out of your phone’s charging speeds. Need a new charger? Check out our guide on the best Galaxy Z Flip 5 chargers. Also, be aware that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is also capable of 10w wireless charging, so you’ll want to pick up a wireless charging pad if you don’t already have one.

Aside from charging accessories, you might also want to consider a smartwatch as a companion device. The Z Flip 5 launched alongside the excellent Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic, two new Wear OS watches with plenty of Samsung additions that will pair perfectly with your new phone.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is built primarily with the fingerprint scanner in mind, though there is also a facial recognition feature. Samsung helps you set these up during the initial phone setup, but if you skipped the process, it’s easy to do it later.

Here’s how to set up the fingerprint reader:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to Security and Privacy and the Lock Screen section.
3. Tap on Fingerprints.
4. It’ll ask you to review info about the feature. Tap Continue when ready.
5. If you already have a secure screen lock method, it’ll ask you to confirm your existing PIN, password, or pattern.
6. Next, it’ll tell you to place your finger on the Side Key. Follow the prompts on when to lift or move your finger.
7. That’s it. If you only wanted one fingerprint set up, you’ll now select Done. Otherwise, you’ll select Add to repeat the process.

And here’s how to set up facial recognition:

1. Open the Z Flip 5’s Settings app.
2. Navigate to Security and Privacy. Tap Biometrics.
3. Tap Face Recognition. You may also be asked to enter your current PIN, pattern, or password.
4. You may be asked to review info about the feature. Tap Continue when ready.
5. You’ll be asked to hold the phone 8-20 inches away and position your face within the circle on the display.
6. After that, you’ll be all setup. Of course, there are a few settings you can still tweak back in the Face Recognition menu, such as turning Face Unlock on or off, requiring eyes to be open or not, and a few others.

The Flex Window is one of the biggest features of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, as it brings more real estate to the Flip’s outer display. The new display has several tricks, many of which are similar to the Cover Screen on the Z Flip 4 and earlier. That said, it gets quite a few improvements when it comes to customization features. Not only can you change your wallpaper, add custom images, and even change the icon colors, even little things can be adjusted, like whether to display battery percentage and app notifications.

There are also a growing number of widgets for things like music, calculator, calendar, and so forth. Additional more fleshed-out apps are available via Samsung Labs, such as Google Maps and Netflix. Just be aware they are still beta functions, so they might not work perfectly. Not to mention special functions that use the Flex Window to take selfies and more.

We recommend spending a lot of time with the Flex Window to learn how you can make the most of it. When I first got the Z Flip, I kind of ignored the outer display, but upgrading to the Z Flip 4 made me realize the cover screen could be a very useful tool. That’s even more true with the larger Flex Window on the Z Flip 5.

By default, the Flex Window has a bunch of widgets and notifications at your disposal, but it’s capable of even more. It’s actually possible to add full apps to the Flex Window using either Samsung’s Good Lock or the third-party Coverscreen OS. You can learn more about both in our guide to the best Z Flip 5 apps. Decide you want to enable Good Lock instead? Check out our guide on how to add Good Lock to the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Be aware that not all apps play nicely on the small squished display of the Z Flip 5, but it’s still a fun thing to mess around with, and you might find a few apps that prove truly useful on the Flex Window.

Widgets have seen increased popularity after Apple finally started pushing them, so it’s no surprise that Samsung has its own twist on Apple’s Stackable Widgets with its Smart Widgets. Basically, these are stackable widgets that you can combine into one. Pretty much just like Apple’s take, more or less.

To add smart widgets:

1. Long-tap on the homescreen and a pop-up box should appear.
2. Select Widgets.
3. Next, you’ll want to find Smart Widget and tap the dropdown arrow.
4. Pick the size that best fits your needs and long-tap the widget to drag it to the homescreen.

That’s how you add one, but what about changing the rotation of the widgets in the stack? Thankfully, that’s pretty easy too. Just long tap on any widget to open the settings. From there you can change the order of widgets and other settings.

The side key on your Z Flip 5 can be customized to do different tasks like opening specific apps, triggering Bixby, and more. Here’s what you need to do to customize this key:

1. Go to Settings and then select Advanced features.
2. You’ll then want to tap on Side Key.
3. This will open a new window that gives you options such as waking Bixby, quickly launching the camera, or opening a specific app. Pick which action you want. That’s it!

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a few special gestures that can make it easier to use, such as lift-to-wake gestures, double tap to turn on the screen, and the list goes on. There is even a gesture that let you open and close the notification panel using the fingerprint sensor.

Here’s how to get to the gestures screen to play around and figure out which gestures are the most useful for your needs:

1. Go to Settings. Then Advanced Settings.
2. Select Motion and Gestures from the list.
3. The next screen will have toggles for various gestures.
4. To enable the finger sensor gesture, you’ll need to top the option, and then you’ll get a new screen with a toggle called Open Notification Panel. Tap it. That’s it!

9. Trying using the Multi-Window tray

The Multi Window tray is located on the right of the display and lets you store your favorite apps.  Here’s how to add new apps to the window:

1. To open the tray, swipe left on the ride side of your screen.
2. Tap the horizontal lines at the bottom and then tap Edit.
3. To add an app, simply tap it.

While Flex Mode is more useful for the Fold 5, you can also play around with it on the Flip 5 and is truly useful for a few apps like the camera. In short, Flex mode splits select apps into two screens, with advanced settings appearing on the second display.

Officially supported apps include Camera, Calendar, Calculator, Clock, Google Duio, Gallery, Internet, Phone, and a few others like YouTube and Zoom. That said, almost any app will add basic flex mode functionality such as a touchscreen panel with a few other tools. How useful is that on a Z Flip 5? That’s another matter.

To turn on Flex Mode, you need to go to Settings > Advanced Features > Labs. Scroll to the bottom and select Flex Mode panel.

Without a doubt, Flex Camera is the coolest of these Flex Mode features, which you can access simply by folding the phone part way without shutting it. Again you’ll need to enable Flex Mode first. Once it’s enabled, you’ll get some handy extra controls and even the ability to take a photo remotely.

These are just a few Galaxy Z Flip 5 tips and tricks that will help you make the most out of your new foldable. If, for some reason, you haven’t already picked up the phone yet, be sure to check out our Galaxy Z Flip 5 review.