Google’s Android 12L introduced a taskbar feature for tablets and foldable devices. The taskbar made its way to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 first and later to older Samsung foldables too.
The bottom-aligned taskbar makes multitasking easy on large-screen devices and can house up to six applications. It also allows users to drag-and-drop apps from the taskbar to an open app to initiate a split-screen view.
However, regardless of how useful the feature is, if you intend to use a third-party launcher on your Samsung device running Android 12L, you’ll have to go the extra mile to enable the feature.
As reported by 9to5Google, Samsung disables the option to toggle the taskbar in the settings menu when a third-party launcher such as the Niagara launcher or Nova launcher is in use. To bypass the limitation, you need to go into Settings > Display > Navigation Bar and tap on the “Looking for something else?” prompt right at the bottom. The section has a shortcut that directs you to the taskbar’s setting, where you can turn the feature on even if you’re using a third-party launcher.
While the limitation can be bypassed, using the taskbar with a third-party launcher doesn’t come without issues. According to 9to5Google, using the taskbar with the Niagara launcher sometimes causes the taskbar to remain visible while in the multitasking screen, whereas at other times, it fails to show any apps at all. Additionally, the taskbar tends to glitch, and the only way to fix it seems to be to toggle it off and then on again. This might explain why Samsung decided to disable the feature when using it with a third-party launcher.
It’s worth noting that the taskbar setting remains available on Pixel smartphones running Android 12L or Android 13 with a third-party launcher, though on those devices, too, the feature seems to be bugged. The taskbar doesn’t sync the icons on the taskbar with those on the launcher’s dock, according to 9to5Google.
Image credit: 9to5Google
Source: 9to5Google
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