Google Wallet deliberately blocked on Galaxy Z Flip 5 cover screen

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 3.4-inch cover display, which is much larger than the 1.9-inch unit on the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Along with increasing the size, Samsung has also made the outer display more useful than before by adding more features to it. One of them is the ability to run full-fledged apps on the cover screen, which allows people to carry out many tasks without even opening the device, saving them a lot of time and effort.

Google Wallet is blocked on Galaxy Z Flip 5 cover screen

The ability to run full-fledged apps on the outer screen is disabled by default, and you can enable it from the Good Lock app. Once you turn on the feature, it will allow you to select the apps that you want to use on the cover display. One of the apps that you can select is Google Wallet. According to 9To5Google, however, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, even though it allows you to add the app to the cover screen, doesn’t allow you to actually use it.

Once you add Google Wallet to the cover display, it will appear just like any other app in the carousel. However, the publication reports that when you open the app, it immediately shuts down, and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 shows you a message saying, “Open phone to continue”. The same app runs just fine on the cover display of the Motorola Razr. That means it isn’t a limitation from Google or Samsung. So, what’s going on here?

Well, there’s no official word from Samsung (or Google) about why Google Wallet doesn’t work on the cover screen of the Galaxy Z Flip 5. However, there’s a possibility that Samsung has intentionally blocked the app from working on the cover display to force people to use Samsung Wallet instead, which, by the way, works just fine on the Flex Window. But that’s just our hunch. The actual reason behind it could be totally different.

Whatever the reason, we hope that Samsung allows people to use any app on the cover screen of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 as the phone is fully capable of doing so. The whole point of a clamshell foldable smartphone with a large outer display is to offer more convenience. If Samsung is limiting it intentionally, people are not going to like it. While we dig more into the matter, you can check out our hands-on impressions of the Galaxy Z Fold 5.