Two screens

Two screens

Wayfinder's first job: make the Thor's two screens easy. Move apps, swap them, open two apps at once, and go home on the right screen.

All the combos below are the defaults. You can change every one of them (see The controller).

Move or swap apps

Hold Back (about 1 second) — the action is called Move / swap apps.

• If only one screen has an app, that app moves to the other screen. The screen it left goes back to its home screen.
• If both screens have an app, the two apps swap places.
• The app keeps running and keeps its place. It is not restarted. (Except Firefox and browsers built on it: they reopen on the other screen and your tabs come back — see the Games page.)

You can also use the Move / swap apps tile in the Quick panel.

The glass slide: when an app moves, a short glass animation plays. You can turn it off in Screens → More options → Animate apps moving between screens (on by default).

Good to know

• Most apps move fine. A few heavy or unusual apps may restart or refuse to move.
• Wayfinder never moves itself. Pressing the combo while the Hub is open does nothing useful — go back to your game first.
• Only one move runs at a time. Extra presses during a move are ignored.
• Some apps (for example dual-screen games or some frontends) draw their own second screen on the other screen. Wayfinder can't put an app under it, so it tells you: "…shows app's second screen — an app can't go under it. Turn it off in app to swap."

"Opens on": each app on its own screen

You can choose the screen an app always opens on.

How to make an app always open on the bottom screen

1. Open Wayfinder → Games.
2. Pick the app.
3. If you don't see Opens on, press Change something for app at the bottom of the window.
4. Under Opens on, choose Bottom (or Top). The default is Any screen.

When that app opens on the other screen, Wayfinder moves it to its screen. If you move it yourself while it's open, it stays where you put it. The next time you open it (once it's no longer on either screen), it goes back to its Opens on screen.

A combo that opens an app can also choose its screen: see The controller → Open an app, a pair or a page with a combo.

App pairs: two apps, one press

An app pair opens two apps at once, each on its own screen (for example a game on top and a guide or chat below).

How to make a pair from a list

1. Open Wayfinder → Quick panel → More options → App pairs. (No Quick panel card on the Hub? That happens when the AYN button opens AYN's drawer. Use Search settings & features and type "pairs".)
2. Press New pair.
3. Pick an app in the ▲ Top screen list and one in the ▼ Bottom screen list. (You can pick "Leave that screen as is" for one side.)
4. Press Save pair.

How to save what's on the screens right now

1. Open the two apps, one on each screen.
2. Press the AYN button to open the Quick panel.
3. Press the App pairs tile, then + Save what's on the screens now.

How to open a pair

• From any app: AYN button → App pairs tile → pick the pair. (If the tile isn't there, add it with Arrange — see Quick panel.)
• With its own tile: in the Quick panel's Arrange, Add — a tile that opens… → + An app pair. One press opens that pair (see Quick panel).
• From the App pairs page: press the pair.
• With a combo: see "Open with a combo" in The controller.

Apps that are already running are moved; the others are started on their screen.

On the App pairs page, each pair has Swap (changes which app goes on top) and Delete (press it twice to confirm).

Put my screens back after a restart

On the App pairs page: Put my screens back after a restart — "After the Thor restarts, reopen the apps that were on each screen". It's off by default.

Recent apps, with the controller

Double-tap Back — opens Android's recent apps. Wayfinder lets you drive it with the controller:

Button	What it does
D-pad left / right, or L1 / R1	Browse the apps
A	Open the app in the middle
Y (or X)	Close that app
Select	Close all ("Clear all")
Start	Go to the home screen
B (or Back)	Go back to the app you came from

For a few seconds, a hint shows these buttons. You can change it in More → Hints & pop-ups → Recent apps — the controller hint:

• Words (default) — one line of words: what each button does (browse, open, close, close all, home, back).
• Symbols — the shortest version: one slim line of symbols (↗ open · ✕ close · ⌂ home · ↩ back).
• Off — no hint. The buttons still work.
• Where (for Words and Symbols): Top (default), Top left, Top right, Bottom left or Bottom right.

The Recent apps tile in the Quick panel does the same.

Close background apps

Triple-tap Back — Close background apps: closes the apps you're not using and keeps the ones on the two screens.

You can also use:

• the Close background tile in the Quick panel,
• the Close background apps button on "Your controls" (the bottom screen while the Hub is open on top).

Close this app

Close this app closes the app on the screen that has the controller, and goes home on that screen — without Android's multitask view. It never closes Wayfinder or the home screen app.

It has no combo by default. To use it:

• give it a combo in Controller → Combos (+ Add a combo), or
• give it to the AYN button (tap or hold), or
• put it on a game button in Game controls (Actions tab).

Close the other screen's app

Close the other screen's app does the same for the other screen: it closes the app on the screen the controller isn't on, and goes home there. For example, you play on top and close the app below without moving the controller.

It has no combo by default either. Give it one the same way as Close this app.

If there's nothing to close on that screen, Wayfinder says "Nothing to close on this screen".

Home goes home on the right screen

Press Home alone: you go to the home screen on the screen that has the controller — top or bottom. (Android on its own only sends the top screen home.)

On the bottom screen, Wayfinder goes back to the launcher it last saw there. If it hasn't seen one yet, it tries Android's second-screen home; if there is none, it says "No home screen found for this screen — open your launcher there once".

Home on the top, the bottom or both screens

Three more actions send a chosen screen home, whichever screen has the controller:

• Home on the top screen — the top screen goes to its home screen.
• Home on the bottom screen — the bottom screen goes to its home screen.
• Home on both screens — both screens go to their home screens.

A fourth one, Home on the controller's screen, does what a Home press does: home on the screen the controller works. It's handy on another combo or button, for example the AYN button.

They have no combo by default. Put them on a combo (Controller → Combos → + Add a combo), on the AYN button (tap or hold), or on a game button in Game controls (Actions tab, for example on a Long press).

How to: set up your two screens like a dual-screen launcher

A few settings give you one-press control of both screens:

1. Home on both screens with a double-tap of Home: go to Controller → Combos — Home, Back and the AYN button, press + Add a combo, pick Home on both screens, press Home once, choose Double-tap, then Save. A single Home press still goes home on the controller's screen (it now waits a tiny moment, in case a second tap comes).
2. Home on the bottom screen with a triple-tap of Home: same steps with Home on the bottom screen and Triple-tap. Or give it to the AYN button's hold: at the top of the Combos page, AYN button — hold → Home on the bottom screen.
3. Each app on its own screen: in Games, set Opens on for the apps you always want on top or at the bottom (see "Opens on" above).
4. Your favourite apps on a combo: at the bottom of the Combos page, + An app opens an app with a combo, on the screen you choose (Opens on: the controller's screen, the top screen or the bottom screen). See The controller.
5. Two apps at once: save an app pair and open it from the Quick panel or with a combo.

If Recent apps doesn't open

If double-tapping Back does nothing, Android may think the Thor's first setup isn't finished (a system reset can cause this). Wayfinder then shows a button Recent apps can't open on the Hub and in More → Help & status. Press it to fix it in one press.

See also

• The controller — change these combos.
• Screens, brightness & sound — turn the bottom screen off.
• The Games page — per-app settings.