Immersive Mode in Android

jeppic2

On some Android phones (eg. Pixel 2) the game "letter boxes" (i.e. adds black bars to the left and right of the game) to accommodate the aspect ratio of the phone. However, by setting a couple attributes in Android to trigger immersive mode, this can be easily avoided, offering a more immersive experience and bigger UI elements.

In immersive mode, the game goes fullscreen and hides the bottom navigation bar (still accessible via swipe), so it has benefits at any aspect ratio. Also, because the game UI is the same for IOS and Android, the game is already fully navigable in fullscreen anyways (i.e. without needing the back button).

Hopefully this is such an easy UI improvement, it can just be snuck in.

Source: I've been using a hack to fake this attribute and playing in fullscreen for close to a year now by using a third party app that simply forces the attribute. Sadly, it stopped working on a per app basis, for Android Pie. Which is why I'm hoping it can just be implemented the official way.