One of the greatest attractions of the Android operating system is that it allows us to customize our mobile phone to the maximum. This is true both in the Android version stock or purer Android, as in the customization layers used by different manufacturers, and One UI, Samsung’s version of Android, is no exception.
One UI lets us use gestures to control almost everything we do with our phone, we can also customize notifications and much more, including additional functions for those who have a phone with S Pen. In addition, One UI hides additional functions to customize important details on our phones, which allow us to make the experience more our own.
How to change the default home screen on a Samsung Galaxy
Android phones allow us to modify many features of the interface and in general what we see on the home screen. It is possible to change the size of the app icons, add widgets, change the text font used by the interface, modify the color palette and even completely change the icons for others that we download to the phone.
But in addition to being able to change the theme, the wallpaper and organize the applications as we wish on the desktop, Android offers us multiple desktops where we can distribute the applications and widgets we want. By default, the main home screen will be the first one from left to right, although in reality there is an additional screen to the left of this screen that is dedicated to showing us news and information of interest to us.
You may not want that first desktop from left to right to be your main home screen, maybe you’d like to use something else. Fortunately, it’s possible to do so, and it’s actually very easy, just pay attention to a button that appears when editing your mobile desktop.
If we long-press our finger on the home screen we can access the home screen editing options in One UI, including the “Wallpaper & style”, “Themes”, “Widgets” and “Settings” options. Among these options we also find a trash can icon to delete the desktops, and at the top, a house-shaped button. That button allows us to configure the desktop screen we are on as the main home screen of the phone. From then on, whenever we press the home button (or perform the respective gesture) the phone will take us to this screen.
This allows us to add more customization and make the interface more unique. In my case, I’ve set the “central” desktop as the main one. On the right I have all my work-related apps and shortcuts, and on the left I have my streaming, music, and gaming apps. This way I can access the apps and widgets I need faster, without having to scroll through multiple screens. It’s a simple change, but very useful for personalizing the phone.
Cover photo | Ricardo Aguilar for Xataka