Test your app on tablets and foldables

A phone-only layout often holds hidden assumptions: one column, a fixed width, portrait only. Tablets and foldables break those assumptions fast. You do not need to own every device. You need to test how your app adapts.

What changes on a large screen

• Window size. The window can be wider than tall, and on foldables it can change while the app runs.
• Orientation. Users rotate the device or unfold it mid-task.
• Multi-window. The app may share the screen with another app, or run in a small window.

A practical test set

You can cover most of this with an emulator plus one real device if you have one:

1. A phone in portrait and landscape.
2. A tablet-sized emulator profile, portrait and landscape.
3. A resizable or foldable emulator profile, if your Android Studio offers one.
4. Split-screen with another app, then drag the divider.

What to check

1. Layout stretch. Do buttons, text fields and images stay sensible when the screen is wide, or do they stretch edge to edge?
2. Wasted space. A single column on a big screen is usable but looks unfinished. Note it, then decide if it matters for your users.
3. State after resize. Fold, unfold or rotate in the middle of a form. Is the input still there? Does the screen reload and lose the scroll position?
4. Navigation. Does the back button and any navigation drawer or bottom bar still behave?
5. Dialogs and sheets. Do they appear at a reasonable size, or fill the entire screen?
6. Touch targets. Are controls still reachable with two hands on a tablet?
7. Media. Are images and video cropped or letterboxed oddly?
8. Keyboard and mouse. Some tablets are used with a keyboard. Check tab order and basic shortcuts if relevant.

Common findings

• Content cut off after rotation.
• A crash or blank screen when the window is resized.
• Text that is huge or tiny because the layout never adapted.
• A screen locked to portrait that looks odd in a landscape window.

Report it so it can be fixed

Name the device or emulator profile, the orientation, the exact resize steps and a screenshot. "Looks wrong on tablet" is hard to act on; "form loses input after unfolding" is not. See how testers send a bug report.

Where real devices help

Emulators show layout. Real foldables show hinge behavior and transitions that emulators only approximate. If you lack the hardware, ask testers who own such a device to run the short set above.

More in the Android app testing hub. Related: widget and shortcut testing and testing the upgrade path.

AppReviewX lets other developers give you private, structured feedback on your app, including on devices you do not own. One feedback you write earns one credit. Start here.