I recently broke the inner screen of my Z Flip 5 (almost completely black and doesn't respond to touch), so I've been trying to improve the functionality of just the cover screen. I've come across this solution using two apps: Shizuku and MacroDroid. In Android 11+ you can enabled Wireless Debugging, which lets you send ADB commands to your phone over a WiFi network. Shizuku takes advantage of this by establishing a local connection to the ADB server on your phone, and forwarding commands to it. It acts as a bridge for other apps to execute privileged commands without needing root. MacroDroid is an automation tool that can call scripts through Shizuku allowing device triggers and more complex logic to control what commands are run. Let's get started!
- Install Shizuku and MacroDroid from the Play Store. Shizuku is free, and MacroDroid is paid ($8) with a free version. You'll need the pro features to fully take advantage of this mod.
- Enable Developer options. Navigate to settings, scroll down to the bottom and navigate to "About phone" -> "Software Information". Tap on "Build number" seven times and then enter your PIN.
- Set up Shizuku. Follow the step by step guide in the app for "Start via Wireless debugging." Make sure to follow every step, at the end it should show you "Shizuku is running, Version 13.5, adb". Note: I haven't been able to do this from the cover screen, so you'll need to use the inner screen directly or remotely.
- Set up MacroDroid. Open MacroDroid and go through the basic setup until you reach the home screen. You can import the macros I've created, but they depend on the pro features of MacroDroid. You will also need to give it accessibility permissions.
- Import macros. Download the macros I've set up from this link. You should be able to open the
.mdrfile directly with MacroDroid. If you can't, you can use the Export/Import tile on the home page to do it manually. Each macro can be individually enabled/disabled if you don't want to use them all. Note: some of the macros require pro version features and won't work with the free version. - Authorize MacroDroid to use Shizuku. Return to Shizuku and click on "Tap to manage authorized apps" and enable MacroDroid.
- Test it out! Close your phone and try out the new cover screen features. Long press volume up/down to rotate the screen in that direction. Short press volume up and down together to reset to the default orientation. Shake the phone to enter recent apps. (There's also an experimental UI resizing function, long press volume up and down together to toggle between default and smaller UI size).
- Keep in mind: after restarting your phone you will have to manually enable Shizuku by repeating the beginning of the setup process. You should just be able to enabled wireless debugging in developer options again, click start in Shizuku, and the toggle MacroDroid under authorized apps off and back on. If you have more problems see the troubleshooting section below.
This wireless ADB set up is pretty finnicky and you might need to reset it. If Shizuku stops running try to start it again. If that doesn't work, make sure that wireless debugging is enabled in developer options (you must be connected to WiFi). If that doesn't work you can try repairing, but you shouldn't need to pair more than once. Whenever Shizuku restarts you'll need to disable and reenable MacroDroid from Shizuku's authorized apps or the commands won't work.
I've done all of this setup without using the inner screen directly, but some steps still require you to access it. I recommend using Samsung Flow (or other phone mirroring software) to control your inner screen from a laptop.
Enable GoodLock's MultiStar if you haven't yet, and you can actually add GoodLock to the cover screen app launcher, which lets you add new apps without unfolding the display.
Set font size to the minimum, it will also decrease the size of UI elements making some apps less cramped.
I'll also provide the ADB commands I'm using if you want to try to do it yourself. All commands should be prefixed with adb shell if running anywhere outside of MacroDroid's Shizuku script action.
- Allow cover screen rotation:
wm fixed-to-user-rotation -d 1 enabled - Rotate cover screen:
wm user-rotation -d 1 lock <orientation><orientation>can be any number from 0 to 3. 0 is the default mode and each subsequent number rotates it clockwise 90 degrees.
- Open recent apps:
am start -n com.sec.android.app.launcher/com.android.quickstep.RecentsActivity --display 1 - Resize cover screen:
wm size <width>x<height> -d 1- Reset with
wm size reset -d 1
- Reset with
- Change cover screen DPI:
wm density <dpi> -d 1- Reset with
wm density reset -d 1
- Reset with
This is so cool !! Makes my flip 6 so useful! Your a genius!!