Android OS has tonnes of features up, on its sleeves, one of it is the Split Screen Feature that has been introduced in Android 7 (Nougat).
But Xiaomi, for some reason has disabled it in their Custom ROM of MIUI 8.2 and above which is based on Android Nougat.
Xiaomi will soon be releasing the MIUI 9, and it is planning to make it special by introducing the Split Screen feature.
But the feature very well exists in the MIUI 8.2 or above build and here is how you can enable to enjoy the true multitasking on your Xiaomi phone before anyone else can.
Update: The MIUI 9 is finally being rolled out to Redmi Note 4 and Mi Max
How to enable Split Screen Feature in Xiaomi Devices
To enable the split screen feature, here are the things you would require.
1. Your phone must be running on MIUI 8.2 or above that is based on Android 7 (which natively has the split screen option)
2. Your MIUI ROM should have ‘Developer Options’ enabled, which can be easily done by tapping on the MIUI version number in the About section
3. In the Developer Options, found under the Additional Settings, you need to scroll all the way down and enable ‘Force Activities to Resizable’
Once you are done with all the three things, you need to install an App called Button Matter, from Play Store.
After you install the app, give it the permission to draw over apps from Accessibility.
Once the app has got the required permissions, you have to Map the buttons on your phone to trigger the Split Screen.
The Free version of this Button Mapper app only lets you customise the Home Button or the Volume Button.
The Mapping the Menu or Back buttons, you need to upgrade to Pro version that only costs $1 (or 50 INR). But for the simplicity of this article, I am going to Map the Home Key.
So, Tap on Home Button, Enable Customize, select Double Tap for the trigger and select the Split Screen action.
Note: Single tap used for getting out of the app & Long tap is using for Google Assistant, so I would advise you to choose the Double tap or upgrade to Pro version to use Menu button)
Now open any app, for example, open YouTube, then double tap on the Home button, and swipe on the YouTube app from the bottom, it will resize the YouTube app making room for another app to be opened.
You can then open another app from the app drawer in the empty screen area.
Controls
You can resize the app screen by swiping the screen split up and down, or you can also tap on it to swap the app positions.
Not all the apps support split screen function as they have not been updated by the respective developers for the Nougat.
For example, Instagram did not support it when I tried, but mostly all the apps like YouTube, Chrome, Inbox by Google, Gmail, WhatsApp, Facebook etc supported the split screen feature.
This new Split screen feature opens the new possibility and enables the Android device to do more at once, and use it like a PC, well almost.
I am using the Mi Max which is a huge 6.4-inch smartphone and the split screen feature makes the device more efficient and lets me utilise it’s bigger screen for multitasking.
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