Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- We’ve spotted clues within the YouTube Music app that indicate the Now Playing widget could soon be supported on the cover display of Galaxy Z Flip devices.
- The Now Playing widget lets you easily control YouTube Music playback.
Samsung made clamshell foldables stylish and trendy with the Galaxy Z Flip lineup. Devices like the Galaxy Z Flip 6 are mainly intended to be used when open, but they also come with a cover display to facilitate interaction when the phone is folded shut. Thanks to the use of widgets on this cover display (or “Flex Window,” as Samsung likes to call it), users can glean information and carry out basic tasks without needing to open the phone. If you are a fan of the cover display, you’d be glad to learn it could be getting even more useful in the future, as YouTube Music could add support for this cover display for its Now Playing widget.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
YouTube Music v7.24.51 indicates that Google could soon bring support for its “Now Playing” widget to the cover display on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip devices. This is the new widget service added to the YouTube Music app:
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
We’ve also spotted code in the AndroidManifest.xml (an important file that contains information about your app) that matches Samsung’s recommendations for making a widget for the Flex Window on Galaxy Z Flip devices.
Once the widget is fully added and made available in the app, Galaxy Z Flip users will be able to enable it from Settings > Cover screen > Widgets. We reckon that the widget on the cover screen will make it easier to control YouTube Music from the flip phone’s cover screen.
For reference, here is what the Now Playing widget looks like on a regular home screen:
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
The Now Playing widget within YouTube Music is not currently live for the cover screen on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip devices. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more about this feature and its rollout.
