You Can Customize Your Galaxy Phone With Samsung's Good Lock App - Here's How

Many Android phones come with built-in personalization features to make the devices look uniquely yours, and Samsung is no exception. However, unlike most brands that bake these features into Settings, Samsung offers a dedicated customization app instead — the Good Lock app.

Good Lock is exclusive to Galaxy phones and can only be downloaded via the Galaxy Store. It comes with individual modules, each designed for tweaking certain aspects of your device, such as one for the lock screen and another for the audio. While Good Lock may seem overwhelming and too complex at first, the configurations are actually pretty intuitive and user-friendly. Each setting even includes a short description, so you'll know exactly what it does.

If you're looking to personalize your Galaxy phone without having to scour the Play Store for a decent, ad-free app, then Good Lock might be worth checking out. We'll walk you through how to use some of its modules to customize your Android device.

With Good Lock, you can easily customize the navigation bar on your Galaxy phone. Follow these steps:

1. On the Make up tab, look for NavStar. 
2. Download the module if you haven't already. 
3. Open the module. 
4. Hit Start.
5. Select Allow All to give NavStar the necessary permissions. 
6. On the Buttons tab, switch on the toggle at the top. 
7. To change the navigation buttons, choose your preferred icons from the sets available. You can customize the icons by pressing New configuration. Then, tap Recents and select a new icon. Do the same for Home, Back, and Close Keyboard. Hit Save to save your new configuration and select your custom icon set from the list. 
8. To auto-hide the navigation bar, enable "Show and hide button" under Advanced options. The nav bar should now disappear. To bring it back, swipe up from the bottom left of the screen. It will then hide itself again after a few seconds. To keep the navigation bar visible (unless you decide to hide it again), double-tap on the little dot on the leftmost side of the navigation bar. To auto-hide it again, tap the little dot twice. 
9. To adjust the height of your navigation bar, drag the slider to your preferred level. Slide it to the left to shrink the nav bar or to the right to make it bigger. 

NavStar has configuration settings for Swipe gestures instead of buttons. You can enable more gesture settings in the Settings app that will allow you to bring back the three-bar swipe gesture at the bottom and remove the gesture hint altogether. Other Swipe gesture configurations include changing the color and sensitivity of the side back gesture indicator and customizing the color, width, and transparency of the gesture bars at the bottom.

Good Lock helps you get the most out of your Home and Apps screen. Here's how:

1. Download and enable Home Up on Good Lock.
2. On the module page, select Home screen.
3. To change the grid, tap Home Screen Grid, adjust the row number and column number, and press Apply to save it. You can have anywhere from a 4x4 grid to a 7x7 grid. Do the same for the Apps Screen Grid.
4. To increase or decrease your favorite apps (the apps at the bottom of the home screen), select Favorites Max Count and change it to up to 9 apps.
5. To have the pages of your Home and Apps screen scroll endlessly instead of stopping at the ends, turn on Loop pages.
6. To enable the finder window (where you can search for apps and Google queries), tap on Finder Access and choose Home screen and/or Apps screen. Now, when you swipe down in the middle of the Home or Apps screen, the finder window will open automatically.
7. To apply a custom color to your wallpaper when you open the Apps screen tap on Background Color Control. Switch on the option at the top and select a new Background color. Change the Background transparency to your rate of choice. When you go to the Apps screen, you should see your new background color with the wallpaper visible depending on how transparent you set it. 
8. To change the size of the app icons on the Home and Apps screen, press App Icon Settings and turn it on. Adjust the Icon Size to your preferred size (up to 120%).
9. To hide the labels of the apps on the Home and Apps screen, go to App Icon Settings and disable "Show app icon label on home screen" and "Show app icon label on apps tray."

Home Up offers other customization settings for your folders, recent apps window, and sharing screen.

While you can edit your Quick Settings menu on Android by default, there are more options that the QuickStar module on Good Lock offers. Here are some additional customizations:

1. Download and install QuickStar from the Good Lock app.
2. Turn on Quick Star.
3. To customize the colors on the Quick Settings, open Style your own Quick Panel and enable it. Pick one of the recommended themes or select My Themes to create your own. Tap on the circles shown to change their colors and saturation. Once you're done, press the download icon at the top, enter a name for your theme, and hit OK. Finally, choose your new theme to apply it.
4. To hide or show your indicator icons (e.g., Wi-Fi, battery, mobile data signal), select Visibility of Indicator Icons. Under System Icon, turn on/off ones you don't want to appear at the top of your screen.
5. To change the clock attributes, go to Clock Settings. Enable the date, AM/PM, and seconds to show these elements in the status bar. Move the clock to the right by tapping on Right under Position and Visibility or select Hide to remove the clock from the status bar.
6. To adjust the spacing of the buttons in the Quick Settings panel, turn on "Change quick settings button grid." Drag the slider to your preferred spacing option.
7. To resize the width of the swipe area for the Quick Settings and Notifications, adjust the slider under Quick settings instant access.
8. To move the Quick Settings swipe area to the right and the Notifications swipe area to the left, tap the swap icon.

Once you're done, swipe down to open Quick Settings. All your customizations should automatically apply to the panel.

If you're not a fan of downloading lock screen apps for your Android phone but want to tweak your lock screen, then the LockStar module on Good Lock might just be what you need. Here's a guide to use LockStar:

1. Install LockStar as you would other Good Lock modules.
2. Turn on the left toggle to customize the lock screen.
3. Tap on the screen under the left toggle.
4. To edit the clock, select it and tap the icon on the bottom-left corner. Choose your clock style from the available options. Adjust the size by dragging the slider to the left or right.
5. To change the shortcut apps at the bottom, tap on them and hit the edit icon (on the lower left corner). Press the first plus sign icon and choose a new app. Select the rightmost plus sign icon to add a different app. You can opt to fill the other plus icons with other apps too. Select the new shortcut row you created and set the alignment.
6. To add widgets, press on an empty space and select Add Widget. Then, choose your widget from the available options, customize it, then drop it anywhere on the lock screen.
7. To remove your lock screen widgets, select them and hit the X icon in the top-right corner.
8. To tweak the recent notification icons, tap on it and press the icon in the lower left. Select a new design under Notification type, resize the icons using the Scale slider, and change their transparency with the Transparency slider. You can also pick a different color for the icons.

Aside from the lock screen, LockStar lets you configure the Always On Display screen too. Just turn on the option in the LockStar home page and edit away.

Samsung's default keyboard can get pretty boring to use and look at. To spice it up a bit, try the Keys Cafe module available on the Good Lock app. Follow these steps to change the functionality and style of your keyboard with Keys Cafe:

1. Download and open Keys Cafe on Good Lock.
2. To customize the buttons on your keyboard, toggle on Make your own keyboard. Select Simple keyboard under English (US) and hit Edit. On the keyboard that appears, press the keys you want to tweak (e.g., resize it, swap it out for a different key, change the secondary function). You can also add more rows to the keyboard if you want. Once you're finished editing the keyboard, hit the checkmark to save it. Repeat the same steps for the Simple keyboard under Symbol to edit the symbols pages on your keyboard.
3. To add colors and effects to the keyboard, enable Style your own keyboard. Choose your preferred background color, key press effect, and key press sound from the tabs at the bottom. Preview your new configurations by hitting the keyboard icon in the top-right corner.
4. To make your own sticker, go to My Sticker. Hit the plus sign on the bottom, select a photo from your gallery, and crop it. Enter a name for the sticker and press the upload button.
5. To enable advanced configurations for your keyboard, go to Advanced keyboard setting. Here, you can hide the .com key when typing in a URL box, turn off delete accelerator (which deletes multiple words with just one long-press), and resize the sticker suggestions.

Keys Cafe also comes complete with some nifty keyboard games you can play to essentially practice your typing skills.

Looking to make the audio configurations on your Galaxy phone more convenient to use? Check out the Sound Assistant module on the Good Lock app. Here's how it works:

1. Install Sound Assistant from the Good Lock app.
2. To change the volume panel, select Customize volume panel and enable it. Tap Custom. On the Standard panel tab, you can drag the panel to your preferred spot, move it to the left, and hide the volume level indicator. On the Extended panel tab, you can remove the app volumes and toolbar functions.
3. To apply a new look to the volume panel, tap on "Make your own volume panel colors" and toggle it on. Choose a preset lighting effect in the Flex UI tab and any recommended themes in the Theme tab.
4. To include a separate volume control for your preferred apps like YouTube or Spotify, head over to Individual app volumes and tap on the plus icon. Pick the apps you want to individually control. Save the apps by pressing the More icon at the top and selecting Add.
5. To make the media volume the default control when pressing the volume rockers one time, enable Control media volume.
6. To mute media volume while your phone is on mute/DND, turn on Media manner mode.
7. To set how big or small the volume jumps with each press, adjust the slider under "Change step volume" to a level between one and ten.
8. To use the volume rocker to jump to the previous or next song while your phone is locked, enable Control music with Volume keys. Now, you can long-press on the volume rockers to skip songs.
9. To make notifications play through your Bluetooth-connected devices, navigate to Advanced settings > Alerts through headphones. Turn on Ringtone, Alarm, and Notification.

There are more configurations available in the module, so feel free to explore them on your own.