When your phone is closed

You can do a lot on the external display.

To wake it, lift, nudge, or tap your phone. Then you can use these gestures on the screen:

  • To unlock your phone, swipe up. (You can also unlock with your face or fingerprint.)
  • To open quick settings, swipe down.
  • To put it to sleep, double tap the screen. (If this gesture doesn't work, turn it on.)

Check notifications

Notification icons appear at the bottom of the external display. To check notifications:

  1. Tap a notification icon to open the list.

  2. In the list:

    • Tap down arrow to see bundled notifications or more notification info.
    • Swipe a notification sideways to dismiss it.
    • Swipe down to close the notifications list.

Open/close camera

Twist the phone twice quickly to open the camera. Or, press the Power button twice quickly. (If this doesn't work, set up the gesture.)

For the best selfie angle, turn your phone so the camera is at the top.

To close the camera, swipe up.

To learn about camera features, read the Camera app's help.

Use phone as mirror

Use your external display as a mirror. The high quality cameras let you to zoom in for details.

  1. With the phone closed, open the camera:

    • Twist the phone twice.
    • Or, double press the Power button.
  2. For the best angle, turn your phone so the camera is at the top.
  3. Tap Photo > Mirror and take a look.

  4. To zoom in/out, tap more options icon then drag up/down.

  5. To take a selfie from the mirror:

    • To add optional frame, tap more options icon > . To see another frame, tap again.
    • To add optional filter effect, like cracked glass or frost, touch & hold the screen. Move your finger and touch & hold again to see the next effect.
    • Tap the screen or press the Volume up button to take the photo.

Answer or make calls

Task Gesture to use
Answer call Flip phone open
End call Flip phone closed
Make call Swipe to Communications panel
See more options during call Tap the display

You can change how your phone handles calls when you flip it open/closed.

If you reject a call, you can send a quick text message from the external display.

Use information panels

When you wake and unlock the screen, you're on the home panel, where you'll see the clock. To get to other panels:

  • Swipe left or right
  • Pinch the screen to see all your active panels and tap the one you want
Apps
Open an app. Tap edit icon to change available apps. You can add up to three of these panels.
Communications
Tap edit icon to add shortcuts for calling and messaging selected contacts. Or, tap to make a call.
Calendar

View events from your Calendar.

  • Drag down to see more days of the month or up to see more events.
  • Tap a day to see events and reminders.
  • Tap Today to return today's view.
  • To toggle between date view and hourly view , tap the icons.

Flip open to edit or add events and other Calendar tasks.

Weather

See the current forecast.

Tap down arrow to change location settings. To change the location shown on the widget, tap a location to select it .

Games

Play games made for your external display, and flip open for more games you can play on the main screen.

To add more games optimized for your external display, tap More games, then flip open to view and install them.

Customize what you see

You can customize the external display by touching & holding a blank spot on the Home panel.

Add, remove, rearrange information panels

  1. Touch & hold the screen, then tap Manage panels.

    The Home panel stays in place and can't be removed.

  2. Adjust the other panels:

    • To add one, tap .
    • To remove one, tap .
    • To rearrange them, drag & drop into the desired order (after the Home panel).

Personalize the look and feel

For the home and lock screens on your external display, you can change the wallpaper, font, clock and much more.

  1. Touch & hold a blank space on the external display, then tap Lock screen or Home screen.

  2. Tap an icon to change features.

    Wallpaper
    Font style
    Accent color
    Amount of image blur on lock screen for privacy
    Themes and clockfaces
  3. Tap Save to save changes.

Change or remove app shortcuts on home screen

The external display home screen includes four app shortcuts, which you can change or remove.

  1. Touch & hold a blank space on the external display.
  2. Tap Home screen.

  3. Adjust shortcuts:

    • To remove a shortcut, on the home screen image, tap its icon.

    • If you don’t want to see any shortcuts, remove them all.
    • To add a shortcut, tap .

More settings

For more personalization options, like display and font size or flip actions, go to Settings > External display.