How to multi-task on Samsung 8/Android

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am trying to log into a new app that is related to a login I already have online. When I go to log into that app for the first time on my phone, it wants to send me a text with a code for me to type in. I can’t use a code they sent me before, it won’t accept it. It has to be the code they are sending me for this iteration of log-in attempts.

Is it possible to go to the text app and see the text without closing the log-in scree for the new app? Every time I do this the new app re-starts and wants to send me another text, and so on, ad nauseum.

eta: I forgot to mention that, in addition to reading the text message, I have to respond to the text with the word “yes.” So it’s not just reading it, it has to be open somehow without closing the other login screen.

2

Can you pull down the notifications to see the code? Another option might be to have your text app display the text message in an onscreen popup (often called a toast).

One of the buttons at the bottom of the phone should bring up a list of running apps, allowing you to switch back and forth between them. You might already know that, and if the problematic app insists on restarting the login process anytime you move away from it, then this obviously won’t work.

If the problem isn’t that the app is written by willfully stupid developers, but that your phone is low powered and killing background apps, then you can try closing anything running in the background. Using the same button that brings up the list of running apps, you can swipe all of them away, or there might be a button to close them all. Then run the problematic app, switch to your texting app, and then switch back. There might also be an option buried in your settings about killing background apps.

3

What you are looking for is “split screen.”

4

Split screen like Darren said. Here are written step by step instructions.

5

Thanks, I’ve seen that video, but I don’t know what Android N refers to, my Android version says 9. And I’ve tried to follow those instructions and they don’t seem to work for me. For what it’s worth, my phone may be older than that video (not sure).

6

Thanks, I like nothing better than written, step by step instructions with illustrations.

All would be perfect, except my phone doesn’t show Multi Window under the Advanced Features tab.

However, it looks like I might be able to toggle by using the Use Recents button, as long as the text message app is already open when I open the other one. Right now I’m waiting for them to re-open my account, since I had so many unsuccessful login attempts they shut it down.

7

Do you have the option to receive the code by email? I do that a lot and have email own inn the computer or kindle.

8

Android N is version 7. If you have 9, you have P/Pie. Don’t know what to say about that not being under Advanced Options–it has been there on my last several phones, under ZTE, LG, and Samsung (but not an S8.) For me under all of those versions I just long-press the square button and the split-screen comes up. It is so easy sometimes a cat does it while I’m trying to watch a video.

9

Nope, not an option.

I just tried that, it brought up Google Assistant, which wanted me to talk to it. No thanks.

eta: how on earth does one know that Android N is version 7, and why on earth would they not just call it version 7?

10

Coming at it from a different angle…

On iPhone there is a setting for each app called “background app refresh” that does…something. Is there something akin to this that he could toggle on his phone that might stop the password-asking app from refreshing itself when he goes away from it?

On iPhone I’d go to Settings then on that screen there’s a list of apps, and I’d click on the app and toggle “Background App Refresh”.

11

My iPhone (6?) knows that the text that just came is from the app I’m working with, and “automatically” copies the code to my clipboard. Alternatively I can tap onthe text message notification and it will show the code over top of the app I’m working with.

12

Just one of those things you have to know… It actually isn’t too, bad. Each major android version gets a letter, a number, and a name. I have no idea why they need three things. The letters are assigned alphabetically, so N, O, P, etc. The numbers are increasing, with integers representing new major versions, and decimals minor versions. So 7, 8, 8.1, etc. The names are sweets that start with the same letter as the version letter. So nougat, oreo, pie, etc. (Pendant alert: letter versioning used to not always represent integer number versioning, but it has for the last several years.) Anyway, here is a list. It’s not the stupidest versioning/naming system I’ve seen.

On top of the Android letter/name/number there also might be another name from the phone maker. For example, Samsung One UI 1.0.

You say you have a Samsung 8, do you mean the S8? I have a Samsung S8 running Android 9, and this is what I think you can do:

Make the navigation bar with the three buttons appear at the bottom of the screen. It might be there, or you might have to swipe up to get it. Tap the app switcher button. On mine that looks like three vertical lines, and is the left most button.

Tap the “Close All” button that appears near the bottom of the screen. That should return you to your home screen.

Open your texting app, however you normally do that.

Bring up and tap the app switcher button again. It should show your texting app on the screen. Tap the icon for the app, which should be just below the search bar at the top. That should bring up a menu. From there, tap the “Open in split screen view” option. That should bring you back to your home screen, with your texting app rolled up at the top.

Go open your login app. That should put it in a split screen view with your texting app at the top, and your login app at the bottom.
Reasons all of that might not work: Your “Samsung 8” might be different than my “Samsung S8 running Android P/9/Pie/One UI 1.0/Samsung Experience 9.0”. The app you’re trying to login with may refuse to work in split screen.

13

Wrong button. You long-pressed the center (traditionally circle) button. You needed to long-press the left (traditionally square) button. (Samsung orders the buttons (from left to right) square circle triangle for some reason, while most order them triangle circle square.)

14

(Some of these images may help you–the “square” has now for some reason been broken into two sets of right-angles and rearranged.)

15

Traditionally software and hardware companies had internal codenames for the new versions of hardware/software that they were working on. Windows versions, for example, were sometimes named after cities, such as Chicago and Memphis. But when they were actually sold, they were given a different name–Windows 95 and Windows 98 in these examples. But lately those code names have become popular names, so you might see a review for an Intel Ivy Lake CPU or an AMD Bulldozer CPU. Or iOS versions named after cats.
(Sadly, there was never official marketing for the Apple Butthead Astronomer.)

16

Cool, but that’s not what I’m talking about at all.