How to customize the cover display on the Motorola Razr+

Here's how to get the most out of the cover display on your Motorola Razr+

Samsung may have kickstarted the trend of foldable phones, but Motorola took that trend and made it cool. It took the iconic Moto Razr phone and reintroduced it as a foldable in 2019 with the same name. And now we’re in 2023 and have the very stylish and powerful Motorola Razr+, also known as the Razr 40 Ultra or Razr 40 in other countries.

I love everything about this stellar foldable — it’s sleek, the hinge works well, and it’s powerful. Plus, Motorola made the cover screen capable of running all of your favorite Android apps right out of the box without the need for any secondary apps. So not only do you have a 144Hz AMOLED display that offers rich, colorful details but is also highly customizable. You’ll find yourself using the outer screen way more than the inner one, so we recommend getting a good screen protector; plus, replacing a damaged display on the Razr+ won’t be cheap.

Back to the customization options — you can change everything from clock faces to wallpapers to which panels you want to keep. You can even set which apps can be operated using the external display. But that’s enough of a preview. Let’s get into the details!

Motorola has packed the Razr+ with a ton of wallpapers and clock faces, so rest assured, you will be changing the look of your outer screen many times before you get bored. When it comes to clock styles, you have a variety of options — analog, digital, animated, colorful, monotone, and even minimalist. The wallpaper catalog is equally diverse, and you also have the option of choosing a custom image as the background wallpaper.

There are a couple of ways to get to your external display settings to customize the clock face or wallpaper. One method is to long-press the outer display itself till you get a menu that shows options like Wallpapers and shortcuts and Lock screen clock face, which lets you customize each of these. The other method is to flip open your phone, long-press anywhere, and select External display setting from the pop-up menu.

Once you’re in the external display menu, here’s how to change the wallpaper or clock face:

Panels are Moto-speak for the different widgets that you can add to your outer screen. These panels (and their shortcuts) can be added to your outer screen desktop, re-arranged, and even removed completely. Here’s how to do it.

Being able to access various apps from the outer display itself is one of the best features of this phone. While the Razr+ does not allow all apps to be used from this screen, the list is pretty great. Most social media apps are supported, as are various games, but our favorite part is the support for Google Maps.

To add apps to your outer screen where you can conveniently access them, here are the steps:

And if you want to transition from the cover screen to the inner screen and vice versa seamlessly, just go to External display settings > App settings > Choose app > Auto transition. That’s it, now you can close your screen or flip it open, and the app will continue on the screen of your choice.

If all these customization options aren’t enough for you, I have one more trick up my sleeve: CoverScreen OS. The name gives it away immediately — it’s an app that runs on your outer screen, is highly customizable, and you get a lot more flexibility in terms of wallpapers, clock faces, and app shortcuts. The app is pretty easy to use as you can simply download it from the Play Store, install it, and follow the on-screen instructions to set it up.

There was a time when Motorola was one of the top phone makers in the world, but it just couldn’t keep up when touchscreen smartphones became the norm. But the company seems to be putting in a pretty sincere effort to get back into the big boys club, with phones like the Razr+ giving the Galaxy Flip 5 a serious run for its money and the Edge+ (2023). I would even go so far as to say that Motorola’s commitment to having a fully interactive outer screen has set the standard for other foldable makers.

The Motorola Razr+ (2023) is easily one of the best foldable phones in the market today, and its best feature is the cover display, which lets you get a lot of tasks done without unfolding the device.