Here’s how to get the most out of the cover display on your Motorola Razr+
Samsung may have kickstarted the trend of foldable phones, but Motorola took that trend and made it cool. It took the iconic Moto Razr phone and reintroduced it as a foldable in 2019 with the same name. And now we’re in 2023 and have the very stylish and powerful Motorola Razr+, also known as the Razr 40 Ultra or Razr 40 in other countries.
I love everything about this stellar foldable — it’s sleek, the hinge works well, and it’s powerful. Plus, Motorola made the cover screen capable of running all of your favorite Android apps right out of the box without the need for any secondary apps. So not only do you have a 144Hz AMOLED display that offers rich, colorful details but is also highly customizable. You’ll find yourself using the outer screen way more than the inner one, so we recommend getting a good screen protector; plus, replacing a damaged display on the Razr+ won’t be cheap.
Back to the customization options — you can change everything from clock faces to wallpapers to which panels you want to keep. You can even set which apps can be operated using the external display. But that’s enough of a preview. Let’s get into the details!
Changing the wallpaper or clock face
Motorola has packed the Razr+ with a ton of wallpapers and clock faces, so rest assured, you will be changing the look of your outer screen many times before you get bored. When it comes to clock styles, you have a variety of options — analog, digital, animated, colorful, monotone, and even minimalist. The wallpaper catalog is equally diverse, and you also have the option of choosing a custom image as the background wallpaper.
There are a couple of ways to get to your external display settings to customize the clock face or wallpaper. One method is to long-press the outer display itself till you get a menu that shows options like Wallpapers and shortcuts and Lock screen clock face, which lets you customize each of these. The other method is to flip open your phone, long-press anywhere, and select External display setting from the pop-up menu.
Once you’re in the external display menu, here’s how to change the wallpaper or clock face:
- Tap on Lock screen clock faces.
- You will now see all the clock faces that are available on your phone — scroll through and tap on the clock face you wish to set. This is the “screensaver” that is visible on your phone before you press the wake button.
- To change the wallpaper, select Home screen wallpapers in the external display menu.
- Here, like in the clock face gallery, you have various wallpapers to choose from. If you’d like to pick a photo instead, click on the tile that says “Add.” You can then choose an image from your photos app.
Remove or re-order panels
Panels are Moto-speak for the different widgets that you can add to your outer screen. These panels (and their shortcuts) can be added to your outer screen desktop, re-arranged, and even removed completely. Here’s how to do it.
- Long-press on your outer screen, and from the pop-up menu, choose Manage panels.
- On the next screen, you will be able to view a bunch of options that you can drag to the panel box, like weather, apps, stocks, and a special Spotify one that we liked (Motorola worked with Spotify to make this one, and we found it pretty nifty).
- Drag the ones you want into the Panels box, and remove the ones you don’t want by dragging them out of the box.
- If you want to remove the Panels shortcut icons from your desktop, long-press anywhere on the wallpaper, tap Wallpapers and shortcuts, and then tap the toggle button next to Show shortcuts to switch it off.
Add and use your favorite apps
Being able to access various apps from the outer display itself is one of the best features of this phone. While the Razr+ does not allow all apps to be used from this screen, the list is pretty great. Most social media apps are supported, as are various games, but our favorite part is the support for Google Maps.
To add apps to your outer screen where you can conveniently access them, here are the steps:
- Long-press anywhere on the wallpaper of your outer display.
- Tap Manage panels.
- Tap and drag the Apps icon into the panel box. You can also drag and re-arrange the order of panel icons here.
- Now, go back and swipe right — you should be able to see an Apps widget with a bunch of apps in it.
- To customize which apps are present in this widget, tap the pencil icon in the top-right corner.
- You will now see all the apps that are compatible with your outer screen. These include popular apps like YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter, and more.
- Tap the ones you want, and when you’re done, hit the checkmark in the top-right corner. You will now go back to the widget where you can see all the apps you just added.
And if you want to transition from the cover screen to the inner screen and vice versa seamlessly, just go to External display settings> App settings> Choose app> Auto transition. That’s it, now you can close your screen or flip it open, and the app will continue on the screen of your choice.
Change the UI with a third-party app
If all these customization options aren’t enough for you, I have one more trick up my sleeve: CoverScreen OS. The name gives it away immediately — it’s an app that runs on your outer screen, is highly customizable, and you get a lot more flexibility in terms of wallpapers, clock faces, and app shortcuts. The app is pretty easy to use as you can simply download it from the Play Store, install it, and follow the on-screen instructions to set it up.
There was a time when Motorola was one of the top phone makers in the world, but it just couldn’t keep up when touchscreen smartphones became the norm. But the company seems to be putting in a pretty sincere effort to get back into the big boys club, with phones like the Razr+ giving the Galaxy Flip 5 a serious run for its money and the Edge+ (2023). I would even go so far as to say that Motorola’s commitment to having a fully interactive outer screen has set the standard for other foldable makers.
Motorola Razr+ (2023)
The Motorola Razr+ (2023) is easily one of the best foldable phones in the market today, and its best feature is the cover display, which lets you get a lot of tasks done without unfolding the device.