Samsung’s secret app for Galaxy phones is my favorite launcher
One of the best things about Samsung phones rarely appears in reviews. It’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 early Android nerd like me, you know all about bulky software skins and the 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 manufacturer had reason to provide directly. Well, Galaxy phones don’t come with Good Lock, but it’s an app straight from Samsung that offers the same kind of flexibility and freedom. Here’s why I like to use it.
Hide favorite apps dock
Since time immemorial, smartphones have had a row of favorite icons at the bottom. These are docked like a taskbar while apps and widgets right on your home screen move as you swipe. Good Lock lets you hide these bookmarks so that your home screen takes up the entire screen. All you need to do is turn off the toggle next to Home > Home Screen > Show Favorites.
As long as you place your most-used apps right on the Home screen, essentials remain accessible and your app drawer stays within reach.
Remove icon labels
I’m not a fan of mess. When an app name and the icon indicate which app I’m looking at, I don’t need both. Although I still need another launcher to create a text-only UI, Good Lock allows me to focus solely on icons. This is one of the first changes I made after installing Nova Launcher. Now I can do this by going to Home > Home screen > App icon settings, where I will find the option for both labels on the home screen and those in the app drawer.
Change icon size
If my app drawer and home screen are primarily going to serve as a grid of icons, then I like those icons to be large. I suppose part of the reason I prefer working from my foldable phone to a laptop is my preference for a big and bubbly interface. Going back to Home > Home screen > App icon settings and adjusting the slider, the icons are currently scaled up to 105%. You can shrink them to 90% of their original size if you prefer more space between your apps.
Hide notification and status bar
I have a weakness for removing distractions. Sorry, I can’t do anything about it. I partly switched to Linux years ago because it allowed me to clean up my taskbar in a way Windows didn’t. On the other hand, Android tries to have as few elements on the screen as possible unrelated to the open application. To its credit, modern notification and status bars are as minimalist as possible. But by removing them with QuickStar > Indicator Icon Visibility, I can make each app even more immersive.
When I’m not using this feature to hide all icons, I always keep hidden ones that I rarely need to see, like alarm or NFC icons.
Hide page indicator
When I scroll through the pages on my home screen, I know exactly which one I’m on. There are not very 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 it is. By toggling Home > Home Screen > Hide Page Indicator, I can make these extra dots disappear.
Change recent apps view
Android has gone through many different iterations of switching between recent apps, and it’s an aspect of your phone that most alternative launchers can’t touch. They should stay in their lane and the recent tasks view is separate from the home screen. This is one area where Good Lock benefits from the fact that it comes directly from Samsung. By going to Home > Task Switcher, you can replace the view with 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 the one I miss the most when using non-Samsung phones. My phone is currently set to switch to a split-screen view when I swipe down diagonally from the side of the screen. If I do a long swipe, 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 your finger diagonally upwards takes a screenshot, saving me from having to hold down the power button and volume button at the same time. The customization possibilities here are virtually endless.
Adjust animations
There was a time when alternative launchers could fundamentally change animations, allowing apps to slide them to the side like cards or slide them in from the new one. Good Lock doesn’t bring this back, but it does allow me to adjust the speed. And while the animations for opening and closing apps involve app windows popping out or shrinking into app icons, Good Lock has a few subtle variations to choose from. You can find them in Home > Gesture Settings.
There are many other features that I don’t personally use, like the ability to place app icons and widgets anywhere on the home screen without adhering to a grid. You can change the size and colors of application folders. You can bring back the dedicated app launcher button. Samsung may not advertise it, but the company makes one of the most customizable Android launchers around.
