BIG Launcher can treat a long press on a button just like a short tap. If your finger stays on the screen longer than you intended, the button can still perform its usual action. You can also add inactive screen-edge margins if your fingers touch the display while holding the phone.
Trying to open an app should not require getting the length of every touch right. In a conventional launcher, keeping your finger on an icon can open a menu or start moving the icon instead. BIG Launcher lets you change that behavior in its own touch controls.
These controls are built into BIG Launcher. They do not depend on a Samsung-specific setting or a touch-delay option in Android Settings, so you can use the same approach across the older and newer Android phones that BIG Launcher supports.
Make a long press do the same job as a tap
In BIG Launcher’s Control settings, the Short and long press option accepts either kind of press as a way to activate a button. You do not have to make every touch brief: holding the button can open the app or perform the assigned action too.
- On the BIG Launcher home screen, tap the three dots ⋮ next to the clock.
- Open Preferences → Accessibility → Control.
- Select Short and long press.
- Return Home and try a harmless app button, such as Calculator, with both a short tap and a longer press.
This changes how BIG Launcher responds to its buttons. An app you open from the home screen still uses its own controls.
If your phone also offers Android’s Touch & hold delay, increasing it is another option to try. It changes how long Android waits before recognising a long press. BIG Launcher’s control works differently: the long press itself can activate the button. You do not need to find an Android touch-delay menu to use it.
Give your grip somewhere to rest
A longer press is one difficulty; touching the edge of the display while gripping the phone is another. If that happens, BIG Launcher’s Safe borders size setting adds black, inactive margins at the screen edges. A finger resting in that margin does not trigger a control.
- Open ⋮ → Preferences → Appearance → Safe borders size.
- Choose a small border size. The available range is 0% to 15%.
- Hold the phone as you normally would and check whether your fingers can rest in the inactive area.
A larger margin leaves less room for the buttons, so use only as much as your grip needs. Safe borders are available in BIG Launcher, BIG Phone and BIG SMS, not BIG Alarm or BIG Notifications.
Try it with one familiar app
Use Calculator or another app that you can open and close without sending a message or making a call. Press its BIG Launcher button with your usual touch. Try again while holding the phone in your normal grip. Check whether the intended app opens and whether the inactive borders leave enough space for your fingers.
Change one setting at a time so you can tell which adjustment makes the phone easier for you to control.
Set up touch control that suits you
Try BIG Launcher with short-and-long-press control and, if needed, safe borders. Set it up with the phone and grip you already use.
