Galaxy phones are packed with features and allow users to choose from Android-based Google apps or Samsung alternatives that do the same thing. The Play Store usually reigns supreme thanks to solid baked-in Google apps like Maps. Google’s vast ecosystem and excellent integration with other devices is difficult to beat.
However, Samsung has some tricks up its sleeve and offers a few excellent apps that I feel Google can’t match when it comes to user-friendliness and performance. Some are direct competitors to Google’s offerings, while others are unrivaled and rule the roost unchallenged.
1 Samsung Health
Track your activities and find workouts
Samsung/Pocket-lint
Samsung Health
Samsung Health is a fitness tracker with workouts and mindfulness activities to improve well-being.
Samsung Health is a health and fitness tracker that monitors your activities and offers workouts to improve your well-being. The app offers comprehensive tracking functions so you can know precisely how far you’ve run or ridden your bike, your daily steps, and how much time you’ve slept. You can also add your weight and height and monitor your calories by entering how much food and water you’ve consumed.
On the fitness side, Samsung Health offers various workouts to lose weight, build muscle, or improve endurance. You can filter them according to your fitness level or goals to find what you’re looking for. When you’re done training, the app offers mindfulness options like meditation, sleep stories, and calming music to help you relax.
Google Fit is a formidable rival with a simple interface and many similar tracking features. Samsung Health still takes the crown because its training and mindfulness options go the extra mile to help you stay fit.
2 Samsung Messages
User-friendly messaging with exciting themes
Samsung/Pocket-lint
Samsung Messages
Samsung Messages is a simple and reliable way to send text messages to your family and friends.
Samsung Messages was once the default messaging app on all Galaxy phones but has now been dethroned by Google Messages as the preinstalled option in the US. However, it still has something to offer users despite its waning popularity and remains the preferred choice among users looking for simplicity in a complicated world.
The biggest advantage of Samsung Messages is its user-friendliness. It has easy-to-reach tabs for conversations and contacts at the bottom, and you can create separate folders at the top to sort your messages into categories. Since the app is part of Samsung’s One UI ecosystem, you can customize it with themes and colors instead of having a generic white background like Google Messages. Users who worry about privacy often prefer Samsung Messages because it works without requiring a Google account.
3 Samsung SmartThings
A simple interface to control your smart devices
Samsung/Pocket-lint
Samsung SmartThings
Samsung SmartThings is an app for managing all your smart home devices on a simple and user-friendly interface.
Samsung’s SmartThings connects all your smart home devices to a single interface so you can easily control them from your phone or tablet. The app works with most third-party devices, like cameras, TVs, lights, and more, making setting automation and routines easier. It’s also compatible with most voice assistants, like Google Assistant and Alexa, for easier integration into your existing system.
After adding your devices, you can access excellent utilities in the Samsung SmartThings app to manage their functions and track usage. You can track how much energy they’ve used or use the home monitor feature to alert you about water leaks, fires, and security issues. SmartThings offers incredible versatility and can work as a remote for your TV or create routines to automatically adjust your lighting and heating according to the time of day or your preferences.
4 Good Lock
Unlimited customization options
Samsung/Pocket-lint
Good Lock
Samsung’s Good Lock is a software suite with various modules to customize your Galaxy phone’s appearance and performance.
Samsung’s Good Lock comprises various app modules for customizing every aspect of your Galaxy phone experience. With Good Lock, you can create custom themes, backgrounds, and keyboard skins using any images you like to improve your phone’s interface. The sky’s the limit, and you can enhance functionality by adding routines and advanced settings to your sound and camera apps.
So far, Google has no answer and doesn’t offer a Good Lock alternative for customizing Samsung Galaxy phones. It’s not surprising, considering all the work that would need to go into its development when Google has its own Pixel phones to worry about. That said, Google doesn’t offer a version of Good Lock for its Pixel phones, and its customers must try third-party apps like System UI Tuner that don’t come close in terms of customization options.
5 Samsung Notes
Advanced tools for next-level notes
Samsung/Pocket-lint
Samsung Notes
Samsung Notes offers rich text tools and AI features to craft notes and lists.
Samsung Notes is the default note-taking app on Galaxy phones. It can’t compete with Google Keep when it comes to cloud storage and cross-platform compatibility. Still, it has some tricks up its sleeve that make it a superior option. Unlike Google’s offering, which keeps things simple, Samsung focuses on giving users more features like better rich text tools and drawing capabilities, which are especially handy if you have an S Pen.
Another benefit of Samsung Notes is that it offers more elements to add to your notes, like PDFs, scans, and audio files. It also has better AI integration with easy access to summarize, translate, and other handy tools to make your life easier.
6 Penup
Get the most out of your S Pen
Samsung/Pocket-lint
PENUP
Penup is a drawing app that makes the most of your S Pen. It includes canvases for drawing, images to color, and challenges against other artists.
Penup is Samsung’s exclusive drawing app for getting the most out of your S Pen stylus. Its simplest function offers blank canvases in various sizes and allows you to draw pictures using pens, crayons, markers, and brushes in any color you like. Not everyone is a great artist, so Penup lets you draw on existing images in your gallery or use the Live Drawings feature to teach you how to sketch animals, landscapes, and other pictures.
If you aren’t into drawing, you can use Penup to color images to de-stress or practice your skills. It offers a range of basic and advanced pictures to color, and you can compare your work to online users to see how it stacks up. Penup is also great for socializing with other artists and lets you test your skills against theirs with various drawing challenges.
7 Samsung Dex
There’s no competition
Samsung/Pocket-lint
Samsung DeX
Samsung DeX connects to most monitors and laptops and allows you to access all your apps on a big screen for better efficiency.
Samsung DeX is a versatile app that connects your Galaxy phone to a monitor or PC so you can use all your apps on a big screen. It’s perfect for multitasking because you can open multiple windows simultaneously. Typing and navigation become easier because you can use a keyboard instead of your phone’s touchscreen. DeX is ideal for work because you can access your phone and PC apps on a single screen to save time. The app is excellent for leisure, too, because you can access your mobile games and streaming services without needing to download them again.
Third-party alternatives like AirDroid Personal and ApowerMirror are available instead of DeX, but they offer limited functionality and can’t match all its features. So far, Google has no alternative app to rival DeX, which puts its Pixel line of phones at a distinct disadvantage concerning connectivity. According to online leakers, Google is working on a new desktop mode for Android 15, but there’s been no official announcement so far, and we still have our fingers crossed.
Trending Products
