# How do I get rid of the sidebar on my Android phone?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-sidebar-on-my-android-phone/720763>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 25, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-sidebar-on-my-android-phone/720763 "2015-05-25T01:48:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-sidebar-on-my-android-phone/720763/1 "2015-05-25T01:48:15Z")

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Hello Everyone,

My Android phone must have done a system update a few weeks ago because I now have a sidebar on the screen that I really diddle. It is a small white tab with an arrow that clings to the left side of the screen. If you activate it a bar appears that had links to various programs. I find it annoying and wish to remove it, but I can’t seem to figure out how. Anyone know how to get rid of it?

The phone is a Samsung Note 2 and the Android version is 4.3

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-sidebar-on-my-android-phone/720763/2 "2015-05-25T03:14:38Z")

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Sounds like you might have put the phone in multiscreen mode. Check under Settings for menu items of like name.

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**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-sidebar-on-my-android-phone/720763/3 "2015-05-25T03:48:51Z")

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Thank you! That was it. I had turned on multi screen now a few weeks back trying to figure out how to use it. I didn’t realize that side bar was part of it. Thanks again!

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-rid-of-the-sidebar-on-my-android-phone/720763/4 "2015-05-25T12:34:45Z")

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NP. I’ve tried multi screen on my Note II a few times, didn’t care for it. The “bar with an arrow” descrip made it an easy guess.