The best way to customise your Samsung Galaxy cellphone with the Good Lock app

Should you personal a Galaxy smartphone and also you haven’t already found the Samsung Good Lock app, I’d suggest getting it put in at your earliest alternative. It’s full of tweaks, instruments, and choices that construct on high of what Samsung already places into its One UI model of Android.

Good Lock permits you to take way more management over how your cellphone interface appears to be like in addition to serving to you to do extra along with your cellphone. Whether or not you wish to design your personal clock face for the lock display screen, swap between apps extra shortly, or change the conduct of the S Pen stylus, Good Lock may also help.

Getting began

To get began, open the Galaxy Retailer in your Samsung cellphone, then discover and set up the Good Lock app. 

The app works by utilizing mini apps known as modules. Once you’ve put in these modules by way of Good Lock, a few of them will present up as regular apps in your cellphone in your common app drawer, whereas others will should be accessed by way of Good Lock — they’ll present up on the highest of the identical display screen you employ to put in the modules.

Once you open Good Lock, you’ll see two tabs on the backside of the display screen: Make up, the place you’ll discover customization modules, and Life up, the place you go for modules overlaying under-the-hood tweaks. Scroll right down to see what is offered. 

There are too many modules to cowl all of them right here, however I’ve picked out a few of my favorites to get you up and operating and to provide you a good suggestion of what Good Lock is able to. (I attempted them out on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 operating Android 13 and One UI 5.1.1.)

Edit the Fast Panel with QuickStar

Altering the colours of the Fast Panel.

QuickStar permits you to customise the Fast Panel — that’s the gallery of choices that seem if you drag down from the highest of the display screen, overlaying Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggle switches, the flashlight, and so forth. You’ll find it on the Make up tab.

When you’ve put in it, it’ll seem on the high of your Good Lock record of modules. Faucet on the entry and allow the toggle on the high of the display screen to carry up the customization choices.

Now you can tailor the Fast Panel to fit your personal tastes. 

Type your personal Fast Panel permits you to swap between colour themes. Visibility of Indicator Icons permits you to present or cover components on the standing bar proper on the high of the show (together with Wi-Fi and airplane mode icons). Use Clock Settings to customise the clock that seems when the Fast Panel is proven.

There are a number of different choices out there. I discovered the Fast settings immediate entry toggle swap to be useful — flip this on, and the complete choice of Fast Panel settings exhibits up instantly. (Usually, one swipe exhibits just a few key toggle switches, and one other swipe down is required to disclose the remaining.)

Customise the clock with ClockFace

ClockFace permits you to tweak virtually each side of the clock.

ClockFace, discovered underneath the Make up tab, provides you entry to a bunch of clock customizations for the lock display screen and the always-on show (in case your Galaxy cellphone helps one). Should you discover the built-in choices a bit too bland and uninteresting, you may actually get artistic with your personal designs.

Launch the module and select between At all times On Show and Lock display screen for which clock you wish to edit. You’ll then be met with dozens of various clocks to choose from—choose any of them, and you may faucet the checkmark icon to use it or the pen icon to edit it. Should you don’t see something you want instantly, faucet My Clock and Create New to construct one thing from scratch.

Whether or not you’re creating a brand new clock face or modifying an present one, you’ve acquired loads of instruments at your disposal right here. You possibly can select between font sizes, clock hand types, 12- or 24-hour codecs, completely different colour schemes, and layouts. You possibly can faucet and maintain on particular person components to reposition them, and you may import new components — together with GIFs and stickers — utilizing the icons on the best.

Tweak S Pen settings with Pentastic

Change the S Pen menus and pointers with Pentastic.

When you have a Galaxy cellphone that helps the S Pen stylus, head to the Make up tab to seek out Pentastic. It permits you to change how S Pen interactions look on the display screen and even how the pen works, making it much more of a productiveness booster.

The primary choice you’ll see on the display screen if you’ve opened Pentastic permits you to change the dimensions and magnificence of the menu that seems when the S Pen is energetic, so somewhat than the usual record, you may have a extra compact line or a circle. You too can change the pointer icon from the traditional circle to an arrow, a coronary heart, and even an animal emoji.

Choose Double faucet shortcut to edit what a double-tap of the S Pen does. All of the apps in your cellphone and all of the potential S Pen options (from creating notes to magnifying the display screen) can be found to you right here — so if there’s an app you want common entry to, you may wish to add it right here.

Apply new themes with Theme Park

Theme Park will preview themes earlier than making use of them.

The Android software program that comes along with your Galaxy cellphone permits you to customise the default interface in quite a lot of methods, however the Theme Park module on the Make up tab takes every little thing to the following degree — overlaying wallpapers, colour schemes, icon types, and extra.

Once you open Theme Park for the primary time, you can be requested for storage permission in order that Theme Park can use the colours out of your picture recordsdata. Faucet Begin and Permit or Don’t enable. 

As soon as that’s carried out, choose Create new, and also you’ll be requested to decide on a wallpaper picture after which a colour scheme to go along with it. You possibly can select from your personal photograph gallery (assuming you gave permission to do this) or choose from a sequence of free and paid photos.

You’ll see previews of how the theme goes to look alongside the best way, and you may apply the theme by tapping the set up icon within the top-right nook (It appears to be like like a downward arrow going right into a tray.)

The opposite tabs within the module allow you to customise the keyboard, the Fast Panel, the amount slider, and the icons utilized by the theme. On the Icon tab, for example, you may change the colours, the dimensions, and the form of your icons. You too can faucet Iconpack to obtain themed icon packs from Samsung and third events.

Revamp the homescreens with Residence Up

Change grid spacing and sizes and extra with Residence Up.

You too can customise homescreens through Residence Up on the Make up tab. Once you’ve acquired these tweaks arrange the best way you need, it can save you them as a profile you will get again to later.

When you’ve gone to the homepage and toggled Residence Up on, faucet Residence display screen to seek out a lot of the modifications you can also make. Right here, you may change the grid spacing of the icons in your homescreens and the app drawer, have your homescreens work as a loop (in different phrases, you may swipe from the final to the primary web page and vice versa), and you may cover the labels that present up subsequent to app icons.

Select Residence Up’s Activity Changer as a substitute to switch the looks of the display screen that exhibits up if you swap between apps. Current apps could be stacked, proven in a grid, or proven in a carousel, and you may present or cover components just like the search bar and the really useful apps record.

Enhance multitasking with MultiStar

MultiStar tweaks varied facets of the multitasking expertise.

MultiStar, on the Life up tab, is a helpful enhancement for the multitasking performance already constructed into Android and Samsung’s One UI. It’s notably useful when you’re utilizing a foldable cellphone just like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 as a result of it could possibly handle precisely how apps are displayed on the 2 screens you’ve acquired.

For instance, on the Z Fold 5, you may select to make the under-display digital camera extra seen, have apps all the time transition to full-screen mode if you unfold the machine, and have apps routinely regulate as you progress between portrait and panorama modes. You merely faucet the I Love Galaxy Foldable hyperlink within the downloaded module to seek out these settings and extra.

Elsewhere within the module, you’ll discover some toggle switches that make it simpler to leap between apps. Fast launch of the Multi window, for instance, permits you to launch the multitasking interface by urgent and holding on the Recents button, whereas Multi Focus units apps to all the time run as in the event that they have been the app at present being considered.

Don’t miss something with Good Catch

Good Catch can file absolutely anything that occurs in your cellphone.

One other useful utility is Good Catch, from the Life up tab, which is the place you may go when you assume you’ve missed a notification in your cellphone or can’t bear in mind an provide you with a warning solely glanced at. It’s additionally helpful for troubleshooting issues in your cellphone.

Open up the module and toggle it on, and also you’ll see an extended record of cellphone occasions you may log, from vibration alerts and displayed adverts to instances when the amount was muted. There’s even the choice to file each time a change is made to the cellphone settings.

You faucet on the toggle switches to show every occasion class on and off. You possibly can then faucet on the class title and see its historical past so you may retrace your steps. You want by no means miss a pop-up message or name notification once more.