Reachability is Apple’s solution to tame the big screen on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus running iOS 8. Its main aim is to drop the on-screen UI down towards the bottom of the display for easy one-handed operation. On iPhone X, reachability can be enabled via Settings -> General -> Accessibility. Then to invoke it, simply swipe down from the gesture bar at the bottom of the display. On iPhone 8 and 8 Plus running iOS 11, you can activate the reachability feature by tapping the Home Button twice. Apparently, Android doesn’t support this feature yet but you can use the new XDA’s one-handed mode app to enable iPhones reachability feature on Android without rooting. The app lowers your device screen into MiniView for easy thumb access. So without further ado, Here’s how to setup one-handed mode to get iOS-like reachability feature on any Android device.
Install One-Handed Mode and Grant Permissions
To begin with, head over to the Google Play Store and download One-Handed Mode. Now open the app after installation and swipe from the right to skip the introductions. On the last page, you will be required to grant special permissions to one-handed mode and this can be done via ADB through computer that’s if you aren’t rooted. To get this one going, jump into Settings -> About Phone and tap “Build number” 7 times to become a developer. Go back to Settings -> Developer Options and enable USB debugging.
Now connect your phone to a PC using USB cable. Pull down the notification bar and tap on USB charging this device. From here, change the connection mode to “Transfer files”. Next up, download the latest Google platform tools for Windows. Open the folder after extraction to access the ADB files. Then hold shift and right-click inside the platform tool folder to open the context menu. Now select “Open command window here”. For Mac and Linux users, you can use this automated installer script to install ADB on your PC. Then open the terminal / command prompt and enter the following command then hit enter.
adb devices
You’ll get a prompt asking you to allow USB debugging. Tap ok and re-enter adb devices on the command window. This time, you’ll see an authorized message. Next type in or copy & paste the below command inside the terminal Window, then press the enter key. Note that this command is case sensitive, so enter them correctly.
adb shell pm grant com.xda.onehandedmode android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
Once you’re done and you don’t see any error, simply disconnect your phone from your PC. Note: if your Android device is rooted, then you don’t have to go through the above ADB installation tutorials. Simply hit the next arrow on the last page of one-handed mode app, then grant it root privilege by tapping “Allow”. That’s it, you are ready to enjoy iOS reachability feature on Android by using the one-handed mode app.
Enjoy iOS Reachability feature on Android
Now relaunch the One-Handed Mode app and tap the “OFF” button to enable the service. This will automatically lower the top of your screen and a black overlay will be drawn just above the status bar. You can also activate the floating movable bubble, as this will help to toggle one-handed mode whenever you’re inside an app.
That’s it. It’s now easy to reach your status bar without having to stretch your hand. You can tinker with one-handed mode via the settings option and customize how the one-handed mode (OHM) behaves. There’s also a paid version that offers a lot of plethora feature. Overall, enjoy iOS reachability feature on your Android phone.