(8 days left!) Reserve the Next Galaxy for free, and get $50 Samsung Credit. Follow us on Google news!

SamMobile has affiliate and sponsored partnerships. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a commission.

News For You
News For You
Notifications

I hope Galaxy tablets will get a “lock touchscreen” feature one day

Opinion
By 

Last updated: October 31st, 2022 at 17:53 UTC+01:00

If you've used a Galaxy tablet long enough, at one point or another you may have run across the same touchscreen issue that I have. I.e., you're sitting on your couch, watching a video on YouTube or another platform, and you decide to grab a glass of water or a snack. You move around, touch the tablet's screen by accident, and mess up the video's timeline, or you end up accessing a different video. The larger and more unwieldy the tablet, the more likely it is to run into this problem. And if I'm not alone in experiencing this annoyance, I hope that Samsung will one day provide a solution.

The app pinning feature accessible through the recent apps screen doesn't help, as it doesn't prevent touch input within the pinned app. And although there are third-party apps that can disable touch input, Samsung doesn't provide a built-in solution for its Galaxy tablets. Netflix is the only video-streaming mobile app — that I know of or use regularly — that has a built-in feature to lock the touchscreen while watching videos, and it feels like a breath of fresh air.

What could Samsung do to address this issue for Galaxy tablet users?

The perfect solution, in my mind, would be for Galaxy tablets to have a physical side switch for disabling and enabling touch input. If that's too much to ask in this day and age, then perhaps Samsung could offer a software solution through One UI outside the region-locked experimental Good Lock platform.

Developing and providing a “disable touch input” quick toggle would probably take the least effort. Or perhaps a more elegant software solution would be for One UI to automatically detect when a video is playing on the Galaxy tablet and present a “lock touchscreen” on-screen toggle. One solution might be better than the others, but whatever the case, this type of feature would help prevent Galaxy Tab users from having to handle their tablets like an egg carton in these situations.

I, for one, would love to have this feature on my Galaxy Tab S7 FE. And with Samsung now offering an “Ultra” flagship tablet with an even bigger screen and thinner bezels, I imagine I'm not the only tablet user to have encountered this annoyance. But maybe I am, so feel free to leave a comment below. Let us know if you'd want Samsung to offer a feature for quickly disabling and enabling your Galaxy tablet's touch input. And if so, would you prefer a universal physical switch? A quick toggle in the quick toggle area? Or a “smart” on-screen button that would show up when needed?

OpinionTablet Galaxy Tab S7 FENetflixOne UIYouTube
Galaxy AI summarized

Scroll for more related content
News For You

You might also like

Three One UI 7 features I look forward to the most

Three One UI 7 features I look forward to the most

Regardless of how the One UI 7 beta program evolves for the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung's new OS upgrade will soon see the light of day through the launch of the Galaxy S25 series next week. I haven't been this excited about an upcoming One UI release in a long time. One UI 7 is […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 3 mins ago
One UI 7.0: Wrapping up all the key changes and events in beta

One UI 7.0: Wrapping up all the key changes and events in beta

The One UI 7.0 beta program went live for the Galaxy S24 series a week ago — in select regions. We've been using the first beta build on the Galaxy S24 series since, and we seem to be closing in on the next step in the testing process. In other words, Samsung might roll out […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 5 days ago
Here’s an overview of One UI 7 beta 3 features the changelog didn’t mention

Here’s an overview of One UI 7 beta 3 features the changelog didn’t mention

The One UI 7 beta 3 update rolled out a couple of days ago, and we've been testing it on the Galaxy S24 ever since. We have just published a new YouTube video to showcase some of the latest prominent changes in beta 3 compared to the beta 2 build. Better yet, most of the […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 1 week ago
[Updated] Galaxy Watch gestures may become your Samsung TV’s remote

[Updated] Galaxy Watch gestures may become your Samsung TV’s remote

Update: We can now confirm the Pointer Mode feature, which adds gesture-based navigation to Samsung TVs through Galaxy Watches, is planned for release. We spotted the Pointer Mode feature in action in a demonstration at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Pointer Mode will likely be released through a SmartThings update as Samsung's 2025 TV lineup […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 1 week ago
Samsung brings Dolby Atmos rival tech to its new TVs, soundbars

Samsung brings Dolby Atmos rival tech to its new TVs, soundbars

Samsung has announced its upcoming soundbars and TVs will feature a new three-dimensional (3D) audio technology called Eclipsa Audio. All the TVs in the new lineup, ranging from Crystal UHD TVs to Neo QLED 8K TVs, will have audio technology co-developed with Google. Samsung TVs launched in 2025 will feature Eclipsa Audio All the soundbars […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 2 weeks ago
Samsung brings immensely useful One UI feature for display nerds

Samsung brings immensely useful One UI feature for display nerds

One of the ways Samsung keeps an upper hand over other Android brands is by constantly adding new software and customization features. One such new feature is an app called Display Assistant, which offers more control over your phone's display behavior on a per-app basis. Display Assistant app offers brightness, refresh rate, and screen timeout […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 4 weeks ago