How to Force Galaxy S8 Plus Apps to Go Full Screen

by Ben Madison · July 6, 2017

With Samsung having gone through the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, it’s no surprise that the Galaxy S8 Plus is one of the most powerful and reliable smartphones ever made. Unfortunately, Samsung cannot make everything perfect. This is clear as long as we have proof of multiple problems from reports of red screen problems to claims that some S8 Plus speakers stop playing audio or that Wi-Fi cannot function properly.

Well, today I want to remind you that Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Plus comes with an unusual aspect ratio of 18.5:9. After the LG G6 and its 9:18 aspect ratio, Samsung announced both its flagships with an even stranger one and I don’t know how you feel about that, but it’s definitely far from my favorite choice.

This basically provides a large screen in a body that fits in your hand. So, combined with the extremely slim bezels, making for a screen-to-body ratio of 84.26%, the handset can actually provide a phablet-worthy display in a smartphone body, yet I have an issue. I don’t know how Samsung did not took in consideration one major aspect – the apps are designed to work on a screen that has the standard 16:9 aspect ratio, so you will eventually discover that your apps fail to stretch across the display in landscape mode, leaving slim black bars on either side.

To make your apps go full screen on your Galaxy S8 Plus and solve the problem, you have to:

First, open your Settings app by swiping up from the home screen;
There, you’ll find a menu option called Display, so don’t hesitate to tap on it;
Scroll down a bit, and you’ll see Full Screen Apps;
Once you access that option, you can scroll through your list of apps and decide which apps should be automatically stretched to full screen;
Don’t hesitate to toggle on the ones you want;
However, be aware of the fact that when you do it, your apps will get cropped a bit at the top and bottom, so you might lose some information.

Have you encountered any other problems with the Galaxy S8 Plus smartphone? Share them in the comments below – we’re here to help.