In June Realme’s latest Android update stopped split screen functionality working on third party launchers. Despite this being a niche tech issue, drama managed to ensue. The company’s excuses changed, depending on who they were talking to. And this resulted in a developer calling it out. Now it seems Realme will be fixing the issue.
[related_content first=”1226181″]
Realme split screen functionality issue
The split screen functionality issue was first brought to our attention by an anonymous source last month. They, and other users, noticed that Realme’s RMX2001_11_B.33 update stopped it from working on third party launchers, such as Nova.
The source was told by the company that it was unable to help with the built-in restrictions of third party launchers. However, Nova launcher hadn’t actually added any restrictions.
Different explanations
Gizmodo Australia queried Realme about this discrepancy and it admitted that a bug was at fault. Instead of fixing the issue, it disabled split screen functionality on all third party launchers.
It also suggested that is customers wanted to use split-screen, they should swap to its built-in launcher.
“In the initial customer response shared we recognise that it wasn’t made clear as to why this issue was occurring and for that we apologise. Unfortunately, some apps don’t have software that is compatible with the latest Realme UI,” said a Realme spokesperson in an email to Gizmodo Australia.
Tesclacoil, the company behind the Nova launcher wasn’t entirely satisfied with this response.
“I’m not aware of what existing bug Realme claims happened with [third] party launchers and their split screen functionality,” a Teslacoil spokesperson said to Gizmodo Australia.
“We’ve received a ton of emails recently about them disabling the functionality, but never any prior emails suggesting a bug.”
The spokesperson theorised that if there was a bug, it probably cropped up in the development of Realme’s RMX2001_11_B.33 update. Instead of fixing the company simply disabled the functionality.
Functionality restored
It seems that Realme has taken the complaint seriously and will be reinstating split screen functionality for third party launchers.
A Realme Australia spokesperson confirmed this with Teslacoil in an email seen by Gizmodo Australia.
The email states that Realme plans on issuing an OTA update at the end of July. This will reinstate functionality.
The email also mentions other bugs that the company has found and asks Teslacoil to assist in addressing them.
Gizmodo Australia has reached out to Realme locally for comment on this update. We have also asked what bugs still need fixing.
Still, this certainly seems to be great news for users that enjoy choice and customisation.