10 useful ways to customize Samsung phones

More and more people are turning to Samsung phones because the company's latest phones have been equipped with many great features. Samsung is the future of smartphones, so this is inevitable.

If certain settings on your new Samsung device don't make you happy, there's always a way to change them. Samsung (and Android phones in general) comes with a lot of customization options to suit each user's specific needs. Below, how to customize almost everything on Samsung phones.

1. Change wallpaper and lock screen

Changing wallpaper and lock screen are just small steps in making the phone come alive. You don't have to stick with the default wallpapers that Samsung offers. Go to Settings> Wallpaper and themes (or visit the Galaxy Themes app pre-installed) and find an attractive wallpaper that suits your style. There are both free and paid wallpapers.

Just click on the wallpaper you want to download and apply it to the home screen, lock screen or both. You can also choose to add a video wallpaper to the lock screen as in the example below:

If you still can't find a satisfactory wallpaper, download a third-party wallpaper app from Google Play Store. Or you can refer to Zedge. This app has a lot of high quality wallpapers and ringtones.

Download Zedge for Android (Available for free, in-app purchases).

2. Change theme

If you don't want to have trouble trying to find a suitable wallpaper and lock screen, just install a theme and you're done. Theme will change the lock screen and wallpaper, even icons.

You can access the theme the same way you choose the wallpaper. Go to Settings> Wallpaper and Themes or just click the Galaxy Themes app . Choose Themes on the bottom menu bar and browse dozens of free or paid themes.

3. Give the icon a new look

Samsung also gives you a way to change the look of icons. Whether you hate the look of the default icons on Samsung phones or don't like the icons that accompany the selected theme, visit the Galaxy Themes app and click Icons on the bottom menu bar.

You can find all kinds of funny icons here. Some options make icons look cute, while other options make your phone look modern and attractive. Remember that installing one of these icon themes will not change every icon you have. These themes only affect standard Samsung applications that come with the phone.

4. Install another keyboard

Many people after switching from iPhone to Samsung are not satisfied with the new keyboard. Instead of 'suffering' with Samsung's default keyboard, you can download some keyboards from Google Play Store. The keyboard you choose depends on personal preference.

When searching quickly on Play Store, you will see many keyboard apps to choose from. Install the keyboard application you like and open it. Most keyboard applications allow changing default options with just a few simple steps.

You may consider choosing SwiftKey. For SwiftKey, all you have to do is click Enable SwiftKey, then select Select SwiftKey. Now, you can officially change Samsung keyboard to SwiftKey keyboard.

If you're still not happy with SwiftKey, try other free, open-source Android keyboard options.

Download SwiftKey for Android (Available for free, in-app purchases).

5. Customize lock screen notifications

By default, notifications pop-up inside a white bubble, blocking the beautiful wallpaper on the lock screen. Do you want to get rid of that annoying bubble once and for all? Go to Settings> Lock screen> Notifications and drag Transparency bar to High. That way, the bubble will disappear completely.

In the View style option , you can change the amount of content displayed in your notification. Select to display a detailed message, shortened version of the message or just the application icon. To be truly private, turn on the Hide content option .

Sometimes, the text color of the message is too dark or too bright when displayed on the lock screen. If that is the case, turn on the Auto-reverse text color option . This useful feature changes the text color depending on the color of the wallpaper.

6. Change the option Always On Display (AOD) and the clock

AOD displays time and date on a black background when you are not using the phone. This feature looks a bit bland, so you can go to Settings> Lock screen> Clock style and 'change skin' for it.

First, make sure that AOD is turned on, then click on it. Here, you can change the style and color of the whole AOD and the clock on the lock screen.

7. Hide or show items in the status bar

The status bar is located at the top of the screen and displays all important phone information, such as time display, monitoring the phone's battery duration and viewing WiFi signal strength.

When a lot of messages are displayed, the status bar will look very messy. To limit the number of notifications displayed, go to Settings> Notifications> Status bar . Click 3 recent notifications to display only three icons at once. If you want to completely remove notification icons , turn off the Show notification icons option .

You can also add battery percentage display information to the status bar by enabling Show battery percentage option .

8. Adjust Edge lighting

Samsung phones come with a lot of interesting features and Edge lighting is one of them. Edge lighting (the feature of displaying the color strip at the side) appears when the phone is turned down and not used.

When you receive a call or message, the edges of the phone light up. To change Edge lighting for your phone, navigate to Display> Edge screen> Edge lighting> Edge lighting style . Here, you can choose different effects, colors, clarity, width and length of lighting.

As you know, when you swipe the right edge of the screen, your favorite apps and contacts will appear. Not only can you change the contents of this panel, but you can add or delete the entire table.

Go to Display> Edge screen> Edge lighting> Edge panels , which show different options for the control panel. There is an option to add weather, smart selection tools, financial news and more to the dashboard. Click on the small three-dot icon in the corner of this screen and select the Edge panel handle that will allow you to adjust the transparency and size of the control panel.

9. Increase screen resolution

When you own a powerful phone like the Samsung Galaxy S10, you should take advantage of its high quality screen. To increase the screen resolution, go to Settings> Display> Screen resolution . You will see three different options: HD +, FHD + and WQHD + .

Do not hesitate to set the resolution to WQHD +. You may lose a little more battery capacity, but that is worth it.

10. Personalize the navigation bar

Other phones in the Android family tend to come with a Back button to the left of the navigation bar. However, Samsung put this Back button on the right by default. Go to Settings> Display> Navigation bar and start customizing. Here, you can change the button order and even choose to use gestures to navigate.

You have not received the maximum benefit of Samsung smartphones if you still maintain the default settings. The greatness of Samsung phones comes from all the customization options. Personalizing your phone not only makes it more convenient to use, but also makes it much more attractive. If you want to customize your phone even more, don't forget to check out the essential apps to personalize your Android phone's home screen.

Hope you are succesful.