The lock screen gets better when you stop using the default clock

The first lock screen change I make is simple: long press the lock screen, unlock into editing mode, tap the clock, and switch away from the basic default style. Samsung’s dynamic clock can reshape itself around the foreground elements of your wallpaper, and you can move or resize it while it continues adapting to the image.

There is also a vertically aligned clock style that may work better depending on your wallpaper. It is not the classic depth effect clock where the time actually sits behind the subject, but it is a much better starting point than the default lock screen.

Depth Wallpapers gives Samsung the depth clock I wish was built in

Samsung does not currently offer the classic depth effect clock at a system level, but Depth Wallpapers gets surprisingly close by embedding depth effect style clocks directly into the wallpapers. You pick a wallpaper, apply a style, set it as your home screen and lock screen wallpaper, then disable the home screen clock inside the app’s settings.

To make the lock screen work properly, I use Good Lock with the LockStar and ClockFace modules installed from Samsung’s Galaxy Store. In ClockFace, I create a blank clock by deleting the clock element, adding a blank text element, and saving that as a custom clock face. Then I go back to the lock screen editor and select that blank clock face so the wallpaper’s built-in depth clock is the only one visible.

If you still want a system clock on the always on display, LockStar lets you set a different always on display clock while keeping the lock screen itself clean. It is a workaround, but it is a really solid one, and it makes me want Samsung to add a native depth effect even more.

A cleaner home screen starts with the app drawer and icons

Before touching the home screen layout, I change the app drawer from Samsung’s default horizontal list to a vertical alphabetical list. Open the app drawer, tap the three dots, choose Sort, and switch to alphabetical order. At least as far as I’m concerned, it is a much more intuitive way to sift through apps.

For icons, I use Good Lock again, this time with the Theme Park module. Inside Theme Park, the icon page lets you create a new icon theme, choose any installed third-party icon pack, and apply it across the system. I used my own Drops Icon Pack in the video, but the same process works with whichever icon pack you prefer.

The best part is that Theme Park also lets you fix unthemed icons. Scroll to the bottom where the unthemed apps live, tap one, choose an icon pack, and select a replacement icon that fits. Once you have cleaned up the mismatched apps, save the icon theme, name it, build it, and apply it.

Home Up makes the layout feel custom without a third-party launcher

The Home Up module is where the home screen really starts to feel like mine. I enable Home Up, open the home screen section, and turn on the option that lets Home Up settings appear directly on the home screen, so I do not need to keep reopening the module.

From there, I set the home screen grid to 7x7, clear the home screen, and drag in the apps I actually want. In my setup, that leaves me with 10 favorite apps arranged exactly where I want them.

Next, I remove the app labels for a cleaner look, then add a KWGT one by one widget across the home screen and load my minimal weather widget. That gives the setup a simple weather readout without adding visual clutter.

Newer versions of One UI let this go further. In Home Up, I hide the page indicator, then go to the hot seat tab and disable the favorites toggle. That removes the dock and page indicator entirely, which instantly makes the home screen look much cleaner.

My favorite Home Up update is DIY home screen. Once it is enabled, long press the home screen, tap DIY, then move elements more freely. I group the lower row of app icons together, move them closer to the top row, then move the weather widget closer to the icons so the spacing finally feels intentional.

zFont 3 lets me use almost any system font

The next major tweak is custom fonts, and I do not mean Samsung’s built-in font options or the fonts from the Galaxy Store. With zFont 3, I can use third-party fonts downloaded from the internet.

Inside zFont 3, you can search for fonts directly, including through Google Fonts, Font Squirrel, and Defont, or you can open fonts you have manually downloaded to your phone. In the video, I used a prepared folder and selected Google Sands regular as the example.

After choosing the font, I tap the One UI8 option, leave the bold font as default, and hit Create. The system font changes instantly, with no extra steps required. You can see it in quick settings, the settings app, and especially the app drawer, where it makes the whole setup feel a little more modern than the default font.

The small One UI tweaks I always make before finishing

Once the main visual setup is done, I make a few smaller changes that improve how the phone feels day to day. These are not as dramatic as the lock screen or home screen, but they are the settings I keep coming back to on Samsung phones.

• Switch quick settings from separate to together for the older combined notification layout.
• Enable Home Up backup and restore for manual or scheduled home screen backups.
• Use Task Changer to center the running app in the recents view.
• Customize gesture animations through Home Up’s basic or advanced tuning options.
• Disable home gesture vibration for a slightly more seamless app opening and closing feel.
• Enable the gesture reliability toggles for use inside full screen apps.

The gesture animation controls are the biggest rabbit hole in that list. You can tune app closing animations separately from app opening animations, and the advanced controls let you change a lot. Once I land on something I like, I leave it alone and never think about it again.

My Samsung customization takeaway

This is basically how I customize every Samsung phone I use. I am not expecting you to recreate everything exactly the same way, although you absolutely can if you like the look. The bigger point is that One UI gives you enough tools to build a software experience that feels personal without needing to replace the launcher.

And the wild part is that this barely scratches the surface. Between Good Lock, Theme Park, Home Up, ClockFace, LockStar, KWGT, zFont 3, and apps like Depth Wallpapers, there are far more tweaks available than I could cover in one guide.