Latest news with #HomeUp
Android Authority
11-06-2025
- Android Authority
I built a focused, productive One UI 7 home screen using its most chaotic feature
Andy Walker / Android Authority I've had a blast using One UI 7 on my Galaxy phone. Now Bar has changed the way I juggle through playlists and monitor dishes in the oven, while its expanded Routines actions offers even more inventive ways of using its built-in automation feature. But one thing I've largely avoided until now was One UI Home. I've never been partial to stock launchers, but since I gave Pixel Launcher a fair chance and built a fairly productivity-minded home screen with it, it's only right that I give One UI Home its spotlight. I decided to use One UI Home as my primary launcher for a week, leaving behind the comfort of Kvaesitso for the wild west of Home Up and widget stacks. I soon learned that these features helped me build a sensible, efficient home screen environment. Which do you prefer: One UI Home or a third-party launcher? 0 votes One UI Home. NaN % A third-party launcher (mention your favorite in the comments). NaN % Turning my insane Samsung home screen into something sensible Andy Walker / Android Authority With the rollout of One UI 7, One UI Home has seen welcome changes. Finally, I have access to a vertically scrolling app list, which makes all the difference for someone like me. I've also embraced Home Up, a Good Lock module that removes more boundaries for those who love an everything-everywhere-all-at-once home screen experience. Unlike my colleague Ryan Haines, who experimented with this feature's choice elements, I wanted to use it to bring more order to my home screen. So, how did I accomplish this? Or at least, how did I plan to achieve this? Unlike my Pixel Launcher experiment, which sought to simplify the first screen I see on my phone to reduce distractions, my One UI Home main screen crams as much information as possible. I wanted to minimize procrastination by hiding social apps from the home screen and reducing my desire to constantly tinker. As a result, I limited myself to important widgets only, while frequently accessed apps are set in folders on the home screen. This setup is widget-heavy, but the use of stacks brings thoughtful order to the madness. I also ensured I maximized the gaps between various elements, giving each widget as much room as possible. This was somewhat possible through Home Up's DIY Home feature. Beware, it's in beta, so be prepared to encounter bugs. I sure did. I'll mention my issues later. Nevertheless, I continued to embrace One UI Home's features, particularly widget stacking. I used this feature to make the most of the available space without cluttering my view. Finally, as I only included important apps on the home screen, every other app can be found using a swipe down and a search via Samsung Finder. It's how I use almost every other launcher, so it's a familiar and efficient workflow. What my DIY home screen looks like, and why it works for me Now, let's get into the actual setup. First, I keep Google Discover enabled. As I also use a Pixel 8, swiping right to access cherry-picked articles has become muscle memory for me. Beyond this, I use two screens for my home setup. The first, which I'll call the main screen, consists almost entirely of widgets. The topmost widget is Samsung's default clock, which displays my local and New York time. This is essential since most of our team uses East Coast time to sync, and I constantly forget the time difference between South Africa and New York. Below this widget, you'll find my first widget stack focusing on weather conditions. The top widget is Samsung's default, offering the current temperature and conditions, and the forecast for the next three hours. This is particularly important during winter in Cape Town. Fronts come and go, and so does the rain, so being aware of how long it'll pour or drizzle ensures I don't get caught in it. Swipe again, and you'll find my favorite radar widget, Weather & Radar. I love this app and use it through Android Auto while driving, too. Naturally, it deserves a place here. Finally, I included a Windy widget to detail the wind gusts in my area, something the other two widgets don't display adequately. Of course, Breezy Weather's Material widget is still king if you don't like these widgets and want a more Google-ified widget. Andy Walker / Android Authority Below this stack, I use two banks of widget stacks side by side. On the right, the Google Home widget gives me quick access to our kitchen Nest Mini and our generic ambient smart light behind the TV. The other widget in the stack is Samsung's battery widget, providing a detailed look at my phone and watch battery. My Galaxy Buds also appear when I'm using them, making it a nifty on-the-go way to check if anything needs a charge. On the left, I have a narrow stack that includes Google Keep, Google Calendar's agenda, and widget. The latter is far superior to Google's own iteration, and I believe it's worth switching into your rotation. I think Keep and the agenda widgets speak for themselves — I like having quick access to my grocery list, dinner ideas board, and my random, daily to-dos. Finally, I have four folders of frequently used apps in the bottom right corner, closest to my right thumb, split by use case. Travel includes apps like Google Maps and Fuelio, Work includes Notion, Shopping is self-explanatory, and Essentials hosts everything else, including Firefox, Gmail, Material Files, the Play Store, and Google Wallet. Andy Walker / Android Authority The second screen consists solely of one launcher stack, with Google News, Sofascore, and Investing widgets residing here. Discover doesn't do a great job of highlighting local news, but News does. Sofascore is essential for a soccer fan, while Investing is key for keeping up with commodity prices and exchange rates. I've been happy with this setup for over a week, but I feel there's room for improvement. At some point, a third screen housing a more detailed weather widget like Meteogram may be in the offing. A review of the apps on the main screen is also in order. One UI's customization tools give me plenty, but it's still not enough Andy Walker / Android Authority While this One UI 7 Home setup could be mirrored in almost every other launcher, two things made it easier to achieve here: DIY Home Screen and widget stacking. The latter is essential for keeping my home screen tidy, functional, and clutter-free without forcing me to drop useful widgets from my rotation. A dedicated weather stack is so useful, while having quick access to Keep and Calendar in one sliver of the home screen is brilliant. Home Up is also vital for maximizing space between widgets, even though it's the most frustrating feature I've ever used in a launcher. Yes, I know it's in beta, so I can't really complain, its tendency to randomly snap objects onto invisible grids and rotating elements had me pull my hair out. Ironically, it forced me to be more conservative with placing items on my screen than its purpose would suggest. It's brilliant for randomly scattered items, but its fine resizing controls still need work. Home Up is also vital for maximizing space between widgets, even though it's the most frustrating feature I've ever used in a launcher. After my experiment, I'm debating returning to my original comfy setup. I've used Kvaesitso on my Galaxy S24 FE since I got the phone, and it wasn't easy to let go of it. I can access all my important widgets without them directly encroaching on my home screen or curated wallpaper. I've grown used to its gesture controls and search peculiarities. After a few days with One UI Home, I was already missing it. Nevertheless, I've discovered plenty about One UI 7 and Samsung's customization drive. While features like Home Up's DIY Home appear to be for those creative folks who plaster their screens with various icons and drawings, it can be used by those seeking order, too. I hope that Samsung considers honing this feature, particularly for those who want to use every inch of our screens.
Android Authority
17-05-2025
- Android Authority
Good Lock's newest feature promised me home screen freedom, but delivered total chaos
When Samsung started overhauling Good Lock for One UI 7, Home Up was one of the modules that saw the biggest changes. Most of those changes were good, letting you modify edge panels, the taskbar (on Folds and tablets), the overview screen, and the home screen itself. As welcome as those features are, I found one of the additions harder to appreciate. DIY Home has a lot of potential, but despite the wonderfully awful home screens you can create with it, the implementation is flawed and reminds me of the worst days of Microsoft's Windows experiments. Have you tried to customize your phone with Samsung's DIY Home? 646 votes Yes, it's so easy 57 % No, absolutely not 43 % DIY Home: What is it and why do I hate it? DIY Home removes all of the guardrails usually placed on home screen customisation. Grid, icon, and widget sizes are unrestricted, and you can put everything, everywhere, all at once. On the surface, that sounds pretty cool. Moving every element to exactly where you want it without any restrictions could lead to some cool setups and maybe a renaissance of the old custom launcher days. I initially hoped for that, but it hasn't worked out. The way DIY Home has been implemented is almost unusable, and I can't bring myself to use it for any longer than is needed. Long-press on an empty space on your home screen or pinch out, and a new DIY Home button appears in the top right of the screen. Once you're in the DIY editor, you can move icons and widgets freely without any limitation, resize and rotate them, and add stickers, emojis, and text. Using DIY Home is like trying to play chess against an opponent who cheats, changes the rules, and flips the board if you start winning. The controls are, in a way, too simple. Even on my S24 Ultra, which is realistically the biggest screen most people will try this with, there isn't enough room to move things precisely with your finger. It needs a movement slider or arrow keys, like the widget creator in KWGT. Another issue is the alignment presets, which are all unlabelled, so you have to press them to figure out what they do. By then, all of the icons you've selected are on top of one another in some incoherent mess that looks like it belongs in John Carpenter's The Thing. Icon manipulation is also inconsistent. Sometimes tapping on a new icon and dragging it while a different one is already selected will clear that selection and only move the new one, while other times it'll move both or neither. Using DIY Home is like trying to play chess against an opponent who cheats, changes the rules, and flips the board if you start winning. It's frustrating and confusing, and it nearly drove me to throw my phone at a wall. Can you make DIY home screens look good on One UI? Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority The answer to that one is maybe. I definitely can't; the screenshot above is the best I could do after nearly an hour of messing with it. Perhaps if you're more patient or creative, you can squeeze a nice home screen out of DIY Home, but I think that effort would be better spent on Nova Launcher or KWGT. My colleague Ryan Haines agrees, too, saying he wishes he hadn't even tried DIY Home. I think Samsung's efforts would be better spent elsewhere, too. One UI 7 introduced the vertical app drawer many of us wanted, but many users, including my wife, preferred the paginated horizontal layout. The option to revert to that, along with more blur and background color options, would be more useful than this. In 1995, Microsoft released Microsoft BOB, which was meant to make navigating Windows more intuitive. It didn't. Instead, it was an incomprehensible mess, just as most DIY Home creations are, and unless Samsung can overhaul it into something more usable, it's best forgotten. Do you like DIY Home, or do you think other features would be a better use of Samsung's (and our) time? Let us know in the comments.
Android Authority
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Android Authority
These Samsung home screens are weird, funny, and interesting at the same time
Samsung's latest software update might have divided opinion in many ways, but it has one feature that's opening up the creative side of device holders. With One UI 7 and the Good Lock app's updated Home Up module, Samsung users can now move apps, widgets, and folders wherever they like on their home screens. We're talking about a new level of freedom, without grids or many other rules whatsoever. The result is a bunch of home screens that are funny, creative, chaotic, or all three at once. Below, we've gathered some of the best examples that we've spotted so far. If you want to try making one yourself — and you will want to — we've also included a quick how-to guide at the end. The coolest and weirdest One UI 7 home screens These examples are a mashup of chaotic sticker dumps and icon art, but the only common theme is Samsung users letting their imaginations run wild. Here are some of our favorite creations, grouped loosely by vibe. There are some good examples here of people not holding back with stickers. Naturally, cats dominate, with the middle example offering a different kitty for every icon. A striking aspect of this customization is that not only do the icons no longer need to be in grid form, but they don't even need to be the right way up. Some more chaotic examples above, based on different-sized icons, loads of self-made stickers, and a cool retro Windows 95 revival in pixel art. The Formula One example here is one of our favorites from a creative point of view. The other two show a sharp contrast between how cluttered or how minimal you can decide to go with your new home screen. Have you tried customizing your home screen on One UI 7? 0 votes Yes, I tried it. NaN % Not yet, but I'm going to now. NaN % No, it looks too chaotic. NaN % I don't have a Samsung or One UI 7. NaN % How to make your own customized One UI 7 home screen If you're ready to get fully weird with your Galaxy phone, you'll first need to download Good Lock and Home Up. Here are the steps. 1. Open the Galaxy Store (not the Play Store!) and install Good Lock. 2. Inside the app, find the Home Up module and install it. 3. Go to Good Lock > Home Up, and toggle it On. 4. Tap on Home Screen and toggle on DIY Home screen on the next menu. You'll see a red Beta logo next to it. 5. Return to your phone's home screen, and long-press on a blank part. 6. Tap DIY Home in the top-right corner. This opens up Samsung's customization toolbox. You're now ready to get creative with your Samsung home screens. You should have the following options: Move icons anywhere on the screen, even overlapping them. Resize and rotate widgets, or layer them on top of each other. Add stickers, emojis, and decorative elements. Hide app labels, change icon sizes, or go completely gridless. Use the alignment guide if you want a bit of order in the chaos.
