GoKawiilThere's a trade-off built into nearly every tech product by default — one that shapes opinions of the product and either pumps or prohibits its market share: functionality vs. user-friendliness. There were, for instance, many digital music players prior to the iPod, but only Apple's device managed to simplify the experience into a single control wheel. Combined with iTunes, which allowed users to simply plug in and sync rather than messing with folder hierarchies. The iPod was destined to be a household name, thanks to its basic functionality but high user-friendliness.
One exception to this universal fundamental is Samsung. Despite being the second largest smartphone vendor on the planet, the company manages to pack more enthusiast functionality into its products than just about any other brand. How does it do so without pushing casual users away? By cleverly siloing those more niche features from the rest of the product. If you want to get deep in the weeds customizing your Samsung Galaxy phone, you'll need to download the Good Lock and Good Guardians suites from the Galaxy Store as discrete apps. Casual users need never leave the soothing embrace of default settings, but adventurous users can get messy.
Samsung has increasingly taken the same tack with the Galaxy Watch line. It most recently culminated in the Galaxy Watch8, which made an honorable mention on our list of the best smartwatches for 2026. Users looking to customize their timepiece have plenty of options right out of the box with premade watch faces from the Play Store or Galaxy Wearable app. But for those who want as personal an experience as possible, there's an app for that. Samsung Developer offers a tool called Watch Face Studio. Available for Windows and macOS, it gives you the resources to build any face you can imagine for Wear OS-powered Galaxy Watches.