One of the best things about Samsung phones rarely comes up in reviews. That’s Good Lock, an official customization suite that makes Galaxy phones the most customizable on the market—a tool that has supplanted the need I once had to install a custom launcher.
If you were an Android nerd in the early days, like me, you know all about bloated software skins and alternatives we replaced them with, like Nova Launcher (may it now rest in peace). These allowed us to tweak every aspect of the home screen to a level that no phone maker had a reason to provide out of the box. Well, Galaxy phones don’t come with Good Lock, but it’s an app directly from Samsung that provides the same kind of flexibility and freedom. Here’s what I like to use it for.
Hiding the favorites apps dock
Smartphones since time immemorial have featured a row of favorite icons across the bottom. These are anchored in place like a taskbar while the apps and widgets directly on your home screen move as you swipe around. Good Lock lets you hide these favorites so that your home screen occupies the entire display. All you have to do is turn off the toggle next to Home Up > Home Screen > Show Favorites.
As long as you place your most-used apps directly on the home screen, essentials remain accessible, and your app drawer remains just a swipe away.
Removing icon labels
I’m not a fan of clutter. When both an app name and the icon communicate which app I’m looking at, I don’t need both. While I still need an alternate launcher to create a text-only UI, Good Lock does let me go all in on just icons. This is one of the first changes I used to make after installing Nova Launcher. Now I can do it by going to Home Up > Home Screen > App Icon Setting, where I will find the option both for labels on the home screen and those in the app drawer.
Changing icon size
If my app drawer and home screen are going to primarily serve as a grid of icons, then I like for those icons to be big. I guess part of the reason I prefer working from my foldable phone over a laptop is my preference for a big and bubbly interface. By returning to Home Up > Home Screen > App Icon Setting and adjusting the slider, I currently have the icons scaled up to 105%. You’re welcome to scale them down to 90% of their original size if you prefer more space between your apps.
Hiding the notification and status bar
I have a thing for removing distractions. Sorry, I can’t help it. I partly switched to Linux years ago because it allowed me to clean up my taskbar in ways Windows did not. In contrast, Android tries to have as few on-screen elements unrelated to the open app as possible. To its credit, the modern notification and status bars are about as minimalist as could be. But by removing them with QuickStar > Visibility of Indicator Icons, I can make every app feel just that extra bit more immersive.
When I’m not using this feature to hide all icons, I still keep hidden those that I rarely need to see, like the alarm or NFC icons.
Hide page indicator
When I’m swiping between pages of my home screen, I know exactly which one I’m on. There aren’t that many of them, and I see them every day. I don’t need a persistent indicator at the bottom telling me which one I’m on, no matter how small. By toggling on Home Up > Home Screen > Hide Page Indicator, I can make those extra dots go away.
Change the recent apps view
Android has gone through many different iterations of how to switch between recent apps, and this is an aspect of your phone most alternate launchers can’t touch. They have to stay in their lane, and the recent task view is separate from the home screen. This is an area where Good Lock benefits from coming directly from Samsung. By going to Home > Task Changer, you can swap out the view for a simpler alternative or a few options from past eras.
Add one-handed gestures
Good Lock consists of many modules, and One Hand Operation + is one I miss most when using non-Samsung phones. I currently have my phone set to switch to a split-screen view when I swipe diagonally downward from the side of the screen. If I make a long swipe in, instead of going back to the previous screen, I open the recent apps view without having to reach to the bottom of the screen. Swiping up diagonally takes a screenshot, saving me from having to hold down my power button and volume button at the same time. The customization opens here are virtually endless.
Tweak animations
There was once a time when alternate launchers could fundamentally change animations, allowing apps to swipe it from the side like cards or fade in and out from new. Good Lock doesn’t bring that back, but it does allow me to adjust the speed. And while animations for opening and closing apps involve the app windows emerging from or shrinking into the app icons, Good Lock does provide a few subtle variations to pick from. You can find them in Home Up > Gesture Settings.
There are plenty more features that I don’t personally take advantage of, like being able to place app icons and widgets anywhere on the home screen without adhering to a grid. You can change the size and colors of app folders. You can bring back the dedicated app launcher button. Samsung may not advertise this, but the company makes one of the most customizable launchers for Android there is.