Samsung Good Lock gave my Galaxy three further buttons I did not know I had

Samsung’s navigation bar ships with three buttons; Back, Home, and Recents, and there’s no apparent manner so as to add extra. Phone makers spent years telling us to desert that strip solely, insisting that full-screen gestures were the smarter way to make use of an enormous show. So you make the change, clear the underside of your display, and attempt to get used to swiping from the sides. But on a large Galaxy, that clear look has a catch.

Why I ended utilizing full display gestures

Clean appears to be like got here with hidden prices

I used gesture navigation on my Galaxy S25 Ultra for months and genuinely preferred how clear the display appeared. The clean animations satisfied me the three-button layout was a relic. In observe, although, that clear look had a value I did not see coming.

My greatest frustration was app switching. With buttons, a fast double-tap on the Recents key flips between your final two apps immediately. If you are bouncing between a browser and a notes app whereas researching one thing, that double-tap enables you to work in each full display. Gestures turned that into one thing far clumsier. You swipe up, pause for the haptic click on, and hope your thumb lifts on the proper second. Lift too early, and the cellphone dumps you onto the house display as a substitute.

The actual drawback was how a lot consideration gestures demanded. A button offers your thumb a hard and fast spot on the glass that fires the second you faucet it. You do not have to guage swipe velocity, distance, or angle. Gestures compelled me to consider each primary interplay, particularly whether or not an edge swipe would return or scrub by means of a photograph slider. My thick case bumper did not assist both, because the raised edges stored my thumb from catching the rim of the glass cleanly.

After months of placing up with misfires, I made a decision the clear look simply wasn’t definitely worth the every day problem. I switched again to three-button navigation, and the cellphone felt predictable once more. The solely drawback was that three buttons weren’t sufficient.

Where Samsung hides its greatest settings

Samsung has a free customization app, Good Lock, within the Galaxy Store. It by no means seems throughout cellphone setup, and Samsung would not point out it anyplace in settings or suggestions. You should seek for it by title.

Good Lock features a module, NavStar, that appears like a easy theming instrument for the navigation bar. You can swap button icons, regulate alignment, and alter the bar’s background coloration. None of that appeared definitely worth the set up till I seen an possibility so as to add further buttons to the bar.

NavStar enables you to place as much as two further buttons straight into the navigation bar. Each one pulls from a grid of system-level actions like display seize, quantity management, and opening the notification panel. They work precisely like Back, Home, and Recents.

A separate toggle locations a small dot on the left facet of the bar. That dot is successfully the third further button, and it kills the most important argument in opposition to button navigation.

Turning the navigation bar into a private dock

From static keys to a customized launchpad

Android has at all times handled the navigation bar as a hard and fast strip of system plumbing. Three buttons, no flexibility. NavStar turns that very same house into a private launchpad, anchored proper the place your thumb already rests.

Inside NavStar, toggle the module on, keep on the Buttons tab, and faucet New configuration. The editor opens with two sections: Button format and Icons. In Button format, choosing Add button reveals a grid of system actions the place you possibly can assign as much as two further buttons. Long-press and drag icons throughout the preview strip to match your pure grip. The Icons tab enables you to swap any image for a customized form, a gallery photograph, or perhaps a sticker.

I went with display seize and display off. Screen seize replaced the awkward two-hand squeeze on the facet key and quantity button that by no means felt pure on a 6.9-inch cellphone. Locking the show is now a single faucet as a substitute of shifting my grip to achieve the facet key.

Back on NavStar’s essential display, a toggle beneath Advanced choices provides the present/disguise dot to the left facet of the bar. Double-tap it, and the complete strip tucks out of sight. A fast flick up from the glass rim brings it proper again. Five buttons once I want them, full display once I do not.

Remapping the remainder of your Galaxy

Taming the underside fringe of the show makes an enormous distinction, however you do not have to cease at on-screen controls. RegiStar, one other module inside the identical app, picks up the place normal {hardware} buttons left off. It enables you to reassign the side key long-press away from Bixby to the flashlight, Google Assistant, or another app. It additionally provides back-tap detection, turning a fast double-tap on the rear glass into an on the spot bodily set off. Stack these {hardware} shortcuts on high of a customized five-button dock, and a large 6.9-inch slab stops feeling like a two-handed chore.

8.5/10

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Display

6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X

RAM

12 or 16 GB

Storage

256GB, 512GB, or 1TB