Why Split-Screen Multitasking Felt So Cluttered
Samsung’s split screen multitasking has long been one of the most powerful One UI features, but it hasn’t always been pretty. In Multi Window mode, two apps share the display with a divider bar in the middle. Above each app, Samsung app handles appear as floating tabs, giving quick access to options like swapping apps, popping one out into a window, maximizing, or closing it. Functionally, these controls are useful, yet in One UI 8.5 and earlier they were always visible and impossible to hide. For many users, that meant permanent visual noise at the top of the screen, overlapping content and eating into valuable pixels. If you used One UI 9 split screen for reading, drawing, or editing documents, those handles could be distracting enough to break your focus. The tools designed to enable productivity ironically made the interface feel busy and cramped.
The New One UI 9 Toggle That Cleans Up Your Screen
One UI 9 introduces a simple but impactful change: a dedicated toggle to show or hide app handles in Multi Window mode. Previously, these controls were hard-wired into the interface, appearing by default whenever you entered split-screen view. Now, Samsung has added a setting inside the Multi Window menu that gives you control over when those handles appear. In practice, that means you can keep the divider bar to resize your windows, but remove the extra tabs that hover on top of your apps. When the toggle is off, the split-screen layout looks cleaner, more like two full apps sharing space rather than floating windows wrapped in UI chrome. One UI 9 features often focus on polish rather than radical redesign, and this is a perfect example: the functionality remains, but visual clutter is dramatically reduced, especially for people who live in split screen all day.
How to Enable Handle Hiding in Multi Window Mode
To take advantage of One UI 9’s cleaner split screen multitasking, you’ll need to flip the new Multi Window toggle. Open the Settings app, then scroll to Advanced features and tap Multi window. Inside this menu, you’ll see a new option that controls whether Samsung app handles are shown in split-screen view. Turn it off to hide the handles entirely, or keep it on if you prefer having quick access to window controls. Once you change the setting, launch split screen as usual and you’ll immediately notice the difference: the divider bar remains, but the floating controls vanish. If you ever miss the handles, you can return to the same menu and re-enable them in seconds. This small tweak puts layout control back in your hands, letting you decide when interface elements should be visible and when the content should take center stage.
Why This Matters for Power Users and Everyday Multitaskers
Hiding app handles might sound minor, but it can significantly improve how One UI 9 split screen feels day to day. With fewer on-screen distractions, you gain a bit more vertical room for content and a layout that looks less like a debug overlay and more like a polished desktop-style workspace. Reading long articles, editing photos while referencing notes, or comparing documents side by side all benefit from the extra clarity. For power users who already rely on Multi Window, the update removes a longstanding friction point that made the interface feel cluttered. For casual users, it makes split screen less intimidating and more visually approachable. Combined with other One UI 9 features focused on refinement, the handle toggle shows Samsung is willing to sweat small details that don’t headline marketing campaigns but meaningfully enhance everyday usability.