Samsung is giving owners of its recent smartphones even more personalization options for the Always-On Display.
According to Android Police, now you can showcase GIFs on the screen when your phone is asleep. The Always-On Display appears whenever you lock your phone and it shows the time, your notifications, remaining battery percentage, and other critical info. Users can change the colors, clock style, and other aspects of the AOD to make it feel a little more customized to their own liking.
For the past couple years, Samsung has also let customers choose between preloaded images or pick their own photo to appear alongside those indicators. It’s a good place to stick a picture of your partner, a family member, your kid, or maybe just a dumb meme. GIFs open yet more potential for creativity.
Samsung includes a few GIF options with the latest update to the AOD software. But you’re also free to use any GIF that’s in your photo library. There’s a limit on maximum length, so keep that in mind. And in the interest of not killing your battery for a very superfluous feature, Samsung doesn’t endlessly loop GIFs. It will only play once, but Android Police says you can double tap on the GIF to trigger another loop.
To get the GIF option, just make sure you’ve updated Always-On Display to the current version, which as of right now is 3.2.26.4. GIFs work on the Galaxy S8 / S8+, Note 8, and I’d imagine very soon the S9 and S9+.