You can get Google Pixel app icons on your Pixel smartphone on Samsung devices, but how? The answer is –  through the Good Lock. Yes! Good Lock module Theme Park allows you to customize the size, shape, and color of the icons as you wish and beautify your home screen and app screen.

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Google offers round/circular icons to Pixel devices that look decent and awesome.  Let’s see how you can customize app icons on your Samsung smartphone.

How to get Google Pixel-like icons on your Samsung smartphone?

You can easily customize the size, shape, and color of the icons in your Samsung to make them look like Google Pixel smartphone icons.

• Open the Good Lock app on your Samsung smartphone
• Tap on the Theme Park module under Make up category. If you do not already have this app on your smartphone, then you can download it by clicking on the download icon.
• Now, click on the Icon option present at the bottom bar.

• Press CREATE NEW option.

• Here you can see different options for customizing the shape, size, and color of icons.
• If you want Google Pixel-like icons on your Samsung smartphone then you have to select the first one of the Shape option that is circular in shape.

• After that, you can choose the color and size you like.

• Press the Save icon located at the top left corner.

• A new pop-up appears, enter the name and press OK.

• Now, select the icon pack that you have just created.

• Press Apply option and enjoy the new icons.

One UI 5.0: Customize app icons on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone

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The South Korean tech giant announced three major OS upgrades for the Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71 in August 2020. The same treatment has been promised to the Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 handsets in 2021, while the company revised its policy last year.

In February 2022, Samsung announced that flagship devices from the Galaxy S21 series will have support for up to four Android OS updates and five years of security patches. Apart from premium ones, the company had also promised the same support for Galaxy A54 and A74 along with their future sequels.

The Galaxy A74 is reportedly dead, while the Galaxy A34 will be announced alongside the Galaxy A54 5G. Since the A34 is an affordable phone, Samsung may not give four OS updates to the device in order to achieve more sales of the A54 as well as keep a certain gap.

It means the Galaxy A54 5G will be the only Samsung mid-range phone supported for 4 Android OS updates, announced in 2023. Since the device is ready to debut with Android 13-based One UI 5.1 pre-installed, it will be eligible for major upgrades up to Android 17, starting with the v14.

Earlier, Chinese smartphone vendors like Oppo and OnePlus announced bringing four OS updates to their flagship models launched in 2023. It shows how rivals worry about Samsung’s lead in after-sales support and the best Android distribution along with longer support.

If you don’t want to spend your money on a premium Galaxy S23, the Galaxy A54 is the perfect choice with the same software support.

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The GoodNotes app for iOS was released back in 2011 and has reached its fifth full iteration. As spotted by AndroidPolice, early GoodNotes for Android users noticed that it’s just a PWA (progressive web app). Moreover, it requires a constant internet connection to use on Samsung tablets.

GoodNotes app brings notepad customization, over 50+ templates, document commenting, a dedicated dark mode, plus much more. As it arrives on the Android platform, GoodNotes becomes the biggest alternative to Samsung’s official Notes application.

• Expected price: $8.99 per month
• Download for free – Google Play Store (Beta)

How to get it now?

First, download and install the GoodNotes app from Google Play Store. Once done, test and share the feedback regarding the functionality of the application so developers can make further improvements prior to the official release.

Top Features

• Experience the freedom of handwriting: Write equations, mind maps, and diagrams on a blank canvas. Edit your ink after you’ve noted it down.
• 50+ notes templates to inspire every use case: From blank paper to graph paper, dotted paper, Cornell notes, and more. Just start writing.
• Free to use during the beta period: For a limited time only, while GoodNotes for Android is still in its Beta, you can use it for free! Help us improve.

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As per the latest information, Google Play Store has started adopting Material You Design and it may take some time for the new changes to roll out. But in the current beta version, we can see some changes.

The company recently released a new beta update for the Play Store that shows the company has finally started working on fully integrating Material You dynamic colors. The company has changed the accent color to blue.

You can see this new change in the screenshot below.

Currently, the Play Store uses dynamic colors only on the home screen’s navigation bar and search bar, all other UI elements use a green accent color instead of pulling colors from your wallpaper.

Back in October 2021, Google brought support for Material You to the Play Store. Since then, the company has made some minor design changes to the App Store’s interface, including a new logo and softer, more rounded buttons.

But now it looks like the company will soon bring amazing changes to the Play Store and make it more beautiful by integrating Material You Design well into its interface.

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The Galaxy-maker also does the same with the Android user interface but safety and reliability always remain the top priority of Samsung and One UI, over the user interface. Data safety and reliability are a must in the ongoing trend as people rely on electric gadgets such as phones to keep data stored.

For a long time, the Korean tech giant is putting efforts toward bringing a reliable software system to Galaxy devices. Samsung Knox is the biggest example, which ensures defense-grade safety and reliability and the One UI continues to improve the security department.

Some users say each One UI iteration looks almost the same as previous versions, but they still prefer One UI. The reason is simple, user interface can’t be in priority if Android software is delivering the best level of safety and security features.

Google plays a key role in developing great new security-related features in the Android operating system. Android 13’s Privacy Dashboard and Android 12’s Camera/Mic indicators are some of the most recent examples. Bounded with GMS policies, Samsung proudly brings features that enhance user and data security.

Multiple studies say that Chinese phones and custom skins come with a tank of bloatware, which somehow lets hackers spy. We can’t forget the last year’s data breach incident with Samsung, but there are a large number of complaints in rival skins.

China focuses on selling cheap phones as certain users don’t care about the reliability and accountability of software. Way back in 2018, WallStreetJournal reported that apps pre-installed on phones sold in developing countries were said to secretly collect user data such as IMEI, MAC, and location.

Whether it’s a budget, mid-range, or flagship phone, Samsung offers the same treatment to consumers when it comes to security. We can’t deny user interface tweaks are necessary, but one can’t compromise precious data and security in favor of UI decoration.

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Google’s Material You was first introduced with Android 12 and is one of the best addition to Android smartphones. This capability is widely known for its adaptive user interface theme. You need to select a new wallpaper and the system will generate a palette based on the wallpaper’s color.

The palette then applies throughout the phone’s UI elements including Settings, quick settings panel, dialer, and system applications. Material you also consist of themed icons, once enabled, the feature lets you apply the color palette to app icons.

Samsung is also using Material You since the very beginning, yet the phone maker has not focused on improving themed icons with the One UI 5.1. This is a massive disappointment as a Samsung user and also one with stock Android.

What’s the issue?

To find out, let’s take a look at the comparison between One UI and stock Android-themed icons. To make it a fair comparison, I’ve set the same wallpaper on both of the devices. Left one is Samsung and the right is Google Pixel.

In One UI, the color palette generated for app icons is bright and has high contrast. The light background of the icon is creating an uneasy contrast combination with the logo inside the background.

The unequal logo size of the different apps is also contributing. For instance, Play Store and Gallery logos have different sizes and padding, as well as the Samsung Browner logo.

Coming to the stock Android, the software has adapted Material You on most of the Android apps. Android’s color palette is generating soft colors for the background shape and a dark tone for the logo. Noticeably, the icon collaborates with the color theme, thus establishing a good synergy between the background and the logo inside.

Moreover, the icon weight and logo padding are almost equal among all of the system apps, which makes for a perfect viewing experience.

Just to mention, Samsung is using themed icons across the launcher. On the flip side, stock Android keeps it limited to the home screen.

There are some notable fixes required for Samsung to get used to the new themed icons but One UI 5.1 is just another miss.

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Google announced new upgrades and features coming to Android and connected devices as part of the Spring feature drop. At the same time, the company proudly praised Samsung and some rivals for supporting OS updates longer.

“Across our partners, brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus and OPPO are committing to longer support of OS and security updates to extend the lifetime of your device,” said Google.

Google offers up to three years of OS updates and five years of regular security patches to Pixel devices. A step up, Samsung is committed to delivering 4 major Android and up to five years of security updates to Galaxy devices.

Flagship Galaxy devices starting the S21 series are eligible for up to four major OS upgrades. Meanwhile, Samsung is also offering the same support to select Galaxy A phones like the Galaxy A53, A73 and successors.

For flagship and select mid-range phones, Samsung rolls out monthly security patches to keep them secure against threats in Android and One UI. And most of the time, the company rolls out patches faster than the Android maker.

Rivals like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and OPPO have also extended their software support offering. However, the South Korean tech giant has proven that it’s the best after-sales service provider with fulfilling each promise.

Google x Samsung

Samsung abandoned its own grown wearable platform to promote Google’s smartwatch operating system. This big partnership brought the One UI Watch operating system to the Galaxy ecosystem for smartwatches.

Based on Wear OS, the One UI Watch brings great new features and Samsung’s layer of the user interface. Third-party apps support is now on the next level, thanks to native Google services such as the biggest Play Store.

Time by time, both OEMs quote each other for innovation and consumer support. However, Google is one of the biggest consumers of Samsung and company as a report revealed, Pixel 7 Pro uses almost everything from Samsung.

Last but not least, Google’s routine Play System updates help bring critical security and privacy improvements. It ensures you can be in greater control of your data and protection through Android’s built-in security features.

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Without any kind of Beta testing or Early access activity, Samsung deployed One UI 5.1 to a number of Galaxy devices. It’s the second time, Samsung recreated Google’s Android 13 firmware to make user experiences epic for Galaxy users.

The new One UI 5.1 software debuted along with the company’s Galaxy S23 flagship series. It impressively enhances the overall user experience (system animation, visual effects) and brings fruitful new features such as dynamic weather widgets, Bixby Text Call, and battery status widgets.

One UI 5.0 stood amazing and Samsung Galaxy users got another epic software ahead of the Android 14-based One UI 6.0 (tentative name). By giving additional new features on the same Android version twice, Samsung just broke the barrier of the Android software rollout.

One UI 5.1 is here with some epic stuff!

Google just gives a single Android operating system every year, at the same time, Samsung is introducing three One UI generations. That way, Galaxy users get major improvements as well as new features almost three times a year, oh yes, the One UI 5.1.1 will release also!

In the Android market, Samsung’s rivals except for Google still continue that conventional software rollout strategy. Meanwhile, the Korean tech giant has greatly enhanced its software deployment mechanisms with Android 13 as One UI 5.1 is a most recent example.

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Samsung took less than two weeks to share the Galaxy S23’s exclusive software with already-sold devices. The Galaxy S23 series was unveiled on February 1st, whereas the One UI 5.1 distribution has begun for a lot of Galaxies on February 13.

Are you impressed with the One UI 5.1 rollout?

Android 14 to release faster

Last year, Samsung revealed that it’s strengthening collaboration with industry giants and partners to boost Android adoption and distribution. This statement came after the Android 13 rollout completion for Galaxy devices, suggesting the massive release of Android 14 this year.

Samsung is the biggest player in the Android market, which has a close collaboration with Google across technology sharing and R&D on artificial intelligence. The company takes solid advantage of its market presence to expand the Android operating system every year.

Quick Flashback

When it comes to security patches, Samsung beats Google every month, with the fastest deployment. It’s been two years since I’m seeing Galaxy devices getting new patches even ahead of the beginning of the month and almost a week ahead of Pixel smartphones.

For the Android OS, Samsung was the first to raise the bar of software updates to four OS on select Galaxy devices. Later, the same strategy was copied by select Chinese phone vendors, as part of the trial of their luck to gather a large portion of the market, compared to the existing.

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To be specified, Google’s latest Pixel 7 Pro uses around 15GB of storage for the operating system. As the Galaxy S23 uses 60GB of internal storage for system software, it’s the size of two Windows 11 installs, side by side. This indicates how incredibly the bloatware is eating your phone’s big storage portion.

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Esper’s senior technical editor Mishaal Rahman highlighted in a storage space survey that his Asus Zenfone 9 uses 22GB for the system in 256GB variant. Meanwhile, buyers of Galaxy S23 found that about 60GB of storage is already occupied by the Android build right out of the box.

There are two possible reasons:

1. Samsung promotes its own non-Google ecosystem
2. Samsung apps built with low-quality code

Due to Google’s policies, Samsung is required to install all necessary Google apps with the smartphone. However, the company is on a mission to build its own apps ecosystem, which results double variants of certain apps. Some examples are as follows:

• Google Play Store → Galaxy Store
• Google Chrome → Samsung Internet
• Google Photos → Samsung Gallery
• Google Assitant → Samsung Bixby
• Google Gmail → Samsung Email
• Google TV → Samsung TV Plus
• Gboard → Samsung Keyboard

Even though the Galaxy S23 series takes up 60GB of storage, it lacks the memory-hungry seamless Android updates feature, which is available on the Google Pixel 7 Pro at just 15GB memory consumption. It becomes worse when we get to know that it’s almost double of memory usage of Windows 11.

For your information, the same storage uses have been found on more Samsung devices such as the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, and the Galaxy Z Fold/Flip lineup. With future app updates and firmware installation, the storage use would increase gradually, making your phone’s storage lesser and lesser.

| ArsTechnica |

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Google introduced the Material You design language with Android 12, letting you style your phone’s home screen in a unique way. At that time, you could only change the icons of certain apps that the system allowed. You could change the icons for Google Apps on Pixel smartphones and Galaxy Apps on Samsung smartphones.

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Android 13 has evolved the Material You theming feature. Now, you can customize non-Google apps to match your phone’s wallpaper themes and colors to make your device’s home screen look more cohesive and unique.

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With One UI 5.0, Samsung introduced Themed Icon support for various One UI apps alongside Google and third-party apps. To do so, the company has tweaked the One UI Home stock launcher app with help of Material You design language.

On February 01, 2023, Samsung unveiled the Android 13-based One UI 5. 1 update with Galaxy S23 series smartphones.

Samsung Apps Android 13 Themed Apps Icons Support

1. AR Zone
2. Bixby
3. Calculator
4. Calendar
5. Camera
6. Clock
7. Contacts
8. Camera Assistant 
9. Galaxy Store [New]
10. Galaxy Shop
11. Good Lock
12. Galaxy Wearable
13. Gallery
14. Game Launcher
15. Galaxy Themes
16. Internet
17. Modes and Routines
18. Messages
19. My Files
20. One Hand Operation +
21. PENUP
22. Phone
23. Pentastic
24. Reminder
25. Samsung Free
26. Samsung Global Goals
27. Samsung Members
28. Samsung Notes
29. Samsung Health
30. Samsung TV Plus
31. Settings
32. Samsung Smart Switch
33. SmartThings
34. Secure Folder
35. Sound Assistant
36. Theme Park
37. Tips
38. Voice Recorder
39. Wonderland

Updated on February 07, 2023

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