10 Samsung Galaxy Tips You're Probably Missing
Okay so here's a fun fact about living in Seoul: Samsung phones are basically everywhere. Hop on the subway at rush hour and I'd estimate 70% of the people around you are holding a Galaxy something. My friends, my co-workers, the convenience store cashier — Galaxies, all of them. So you'd think everyone here would be a power user by now.
They're not. And honestly, I wasn't either.
I picked up the Galaxy S25 Ultra from the Samsung Digital Plaza in Gangnam the week it launched — paid about ₩1,699,000 (roughly ~$1,240 at the time, though prices vary) — and even after using Samsung phones for years, I kept finding settings buried three menus deep that I'd never touched. Some of them are genuinely great. One of them changed how I work. A couple of them I turned right back off because they were more annoying than useful.
This is that list. Structure D energy: quick intro, numbered tips, done. Let's get into it.
1. Good Lock: The Secret Customization App Samsung Doesn't Advertise
If you haven't heard of Good Lock, this alone is worth reading the whole post for. It's a Samsung app (available in the Galaxy Store, not Play Store) that unlocks a whole layer of customization One UI doesn't officially surface. We're talking custom lock screens, multi-window layouts, notification panel tweaks, custom quick settings — stuff iPhone users literally cannot do.
Download the main Good Lock app, then browse the "Modules" tab. The ones I actually use: LockStar for lock screen widgets (way more useful than it sounds), QuickStar for completely rearranging the notification shade, and MultiStar for saving specific multi-window layouts so you can reopen them instantly.
Fair warning: the UI inside Good Lock is kinda cluttered and it can be confusing to navigate at first. But once you find what you want, it's worth it.
Amazon → (while you're customizing, a good case doesn't hurt)
2. Circle to Search (And How Most People Use It Wrong)
This one came to Galaxy phones via Google, and it's wild how underused it is. Press and hold the home button (or navigation bar) and a Google Search overlay activates — you can circle, highlight, or tap anything on your screen to search it instantly. No screenshot, no copy-pasting.
I use it constantly when I'm scrolling through Instagram and see a product I want to find — circle it, instant search results. Or when I'm reading an article and hit an unfamiliar word. Or when someone texts me a photo of a restaurant and I want to know where it is.
It's honestly closer to what I wished Google Lens would be. iPhone's Visual Look Up does something similar-ish, but it only works in the Photos app. Circle to Search works on literally anything on your screen in real time. That's the key difference.
3. Quick Share Is Actually Cross-Platform Now
Everyone knows AirDrop. It's fast, it's wireless, it's the reason Apple users always look smug when sharing files. Samsung's Quick Share used to be the sad cousin — worked fine between Samsung devices, but the moment you had to share with a non-Samsung Android or, god forbid, an iPhone, you were back to emailing yourself files like it's 2011.
That changed. Quick Share now works via a link-based transfer that works on basically any device. You can share to nearby Android phones regardless of brand, and to iPhones through a generated link. Still slightly more steps than AirDrop between two iPhones, but it's genuinely usable now.
Swipe down, find the Quick Share tile (you might need to add it to your quick settings panel), and toggle it on. Make sure "Who can share with you" is set to something other than "Contacts only" if you're in a pinch.
4. Modes and Routines (Bixby Routines Grew Up)
Bixby Routines got rebranded to "Modes and Routines" a few One UI versions back and honestly it's much better than I remember. Think of it as a more powerful version of Focus Mode on iPhone — except you can trigger it automatically based on time, location, connected device, app usage, whatever.
My setup: when I connect to my work Bluetooth earbuds, it automatically mutes notifications except for calls, sets screen timeout to 10 minutes, and turns on Dark Mode. When I disconnect, everything goes back to normal. I didn't realize how much of my day I was spending manually adjusting settings until I stopped having to do it.
The one criticism here is that building routines takes some patience — the interface isn't exactly intuitive and some triggers don't always fire reliably. But the basics work well.
Find it under Settings → Modes and Routines.
5. Pro Video Mode for Content Creators
I've been messing with the cameras seriously for the past few weeks, and the one thing I keep coming back to is Pro Video mode. It's separate from the standard video mode and it gives you manual control over ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and mic gain — all adjustable while you're recording.
The S25 Ultra's camera has this slight clinical sharpness to it sometimes, especially in bright outdoor conditions like Myeongdong on a sunny afternoon. Dropping the shutter speed slightly and dialing in the ISO manually makes the footage feel more natural, less like a phone camera. If you're just recording memories it doesn't matter, but if you post any kind of content, it's worth learning.
Also: flip to the front camera in Pro Video mode and you get the same manual controls. Selfie video that you actually control. Wild.
6. Expert RAW for Photography Nerds
Separate app download (it's free in the Galaxy Store), and it turns your Samsung into something that behaves more like a mirrorless camera. Multi-frame RAW capture, astrophoto mode, histogram overlay — it's a lot.
Honestly, for daily use I still just use the regular camera app. But if I'm going somewhere specifically to take photos — a day trip to Bukhansan, a market I want to document — Expert RAW comes with me. The RAW files it produces edit beautifully in Lightroom, way more latitude than the standard JPEG or even the regular Pro mode RAW.
The only downside: it doesn't launch as fast as the regular camera. You'll miss a shot or two while it's loading. Keep the regular camera app as your lock screen shortcut.
7. Samsung DeX: Use Your Phone as a Computer
I know, I know — you've heard of DeX. But have you actually used it? I hadn't, until about a month ago when my laptop charger died mid-trip and I needed to finish something quickly.
Plug your phone into a USB-C monitor (or a USB-C to HDMI adapter — a decent one runs about ₩12,000 / ~$9 on Coupang), connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and your Galaxy turns into a legitimate desktop environment. It runs multiple windows, supports keyboard shortcuts, and handles documents and email totally fine. It's not a laptop replacement, but for a "I need to get work done and I only have my phone" situation, it's remarkably usable.
8. Adaptive Refresh Rate — Turn It Off in Some Apps
This one's more of a fix than a tip. Samsung's adaptive display adjusts the refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on content. In theory, this saves battery. In practice, some apps look weirdly choppy when the display drops to a lower refresh rate, especially older apps that weren't designed with this in mind.
Go to Settings → Display → Motion Smoothness. You can set it to Standard (always 60Hz) if you want consistency, or keep Adaptive but know that's what's causing the occasional jank. On the S25 series, battery drain from keeping it at 120Hz is pretty minimal anyway, so I've switched mine to a high constant refresh and don't notice a difference in battery.
9. Secure Folder — More Useful Than You'd Think
This isn't a new feature, but I'd never used it properly until someone showed me at a coffee shop in Hongdae. Secure Folder is an encrypted, password-protected space on your phone — apps installed there are completely separate instances from your main phone. Different accounts, different data.
I use it for one specific thing: a second Instagram account for personal posts I don't want tied to my main account. But I know people who use it to keep a separate bank app, a second KakaoTalk account, or just photos they don't want appearing in the regular gallery. It's basically a phone within your phone.
The only annoyance is the loading time when you first open it — maybe 3-4 seconds. Minor thing.
10. One-Handed Mode (The Version That Actually Works)
Samsung has two versions of one-handed mode and most people accidentally turn on the wrong one. The one in Settings → Advanced Features → One-Handed Mode shrinks the entire display to one half of the screen. That's the one people use once, hate, and turn off forever.
But there's a better option: just swipe down on the navigation bar (if you're using gesture navigation). This triggers a temporary, floating mini-screen that's actually comfortable to use with one thumb. No mode to activate, no settings to toggle. Just swipe down on that bar at the very bottom of the screen.
I use this on the S25 Ultra constantly because that phone is a brick — great for media consumption, genuinely awkward to use one-handed while standing on the bus. This little trick makes it manageable.
Quick Picks Summary
- Must try first: Good Lock (seriously, download it right now), Circle to Search
- For content creators: Pro Video Mode, Expert RAW
- For productivity: Modes and Routines, Samsung DeX
- Underrated: Secure Folder, One-Handed Mode swipe gesture
- Quality of life: Quick Share cross-platform, Adaptive Refresh Rate awareness
Samsung phones reward people who actually poke around the settings. The defaults are fine. But the stuff buried in the menus? That's where it gets interesting.
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