I’ll admit it: I’ve never been the biggest Samsung DeX user. Not because I don’t like it — I think it’s the gold standard for casting your phone to an external display — but because I spend far too much time with non-Samsung phones in my pocket. The funny thing is that every time I leave the Galaxy ecosystem behind, that’s precisely when I need DeX most.
And now that it’s about to undergo significant changes as part of One UI 8, I’m a little worried. I don’t want to lose certain DeX features, even if it ultimately leads to a better experience in Android’s Desktop mode. Here’s what I’m not looking forward to losing:
Lock DeX and Exit DeX saved my clumsiness
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
Like I said, I’m not the biggest DeX user — it just comes with the territory of switching phones dozens of times per year. Unfortunately, that often means I forget the rules of how it’s supposed to work, accidentally quitting out of DeX when I only meant to rearrange a window or two to make my life a little bit easier. Thankfully, Samsung had a solution: The ability to lock myself into DeX or only exit via a button in the app drawer.
Right now, my most-used feature in DeX is a handy little button called Lock DeX. Honestly, it’s as simple as it sounds, making it so that I can’t exit DeX unless I use biometrics to unlock my Galaxy S25, but it’s become essential for my needs. It’s saved my bacon (or at least a few minutes’ worth of work) more times than I can count, keeping me from having to reopen windows and figure out layouts based on my own mix-up.
If I were Google, I’d take notice. Android 16’s Desktop mode needs a way to keep clumsy users like me in mind, and I think copying Lock DeX is the easiest way to do it. Either that, or copy Exit DeX and make sure that I physically press a button before my phone stops casting.
MultiStar’s I❤️ Samsung DeX made Good Lock worth it
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Although I don’t usually like to download or use Good Lock, I’m willing to make an exception when it comes to DeX. See, my problems typically center around the fact that Good Lock is too essential for basics like fleshing out the Galaxy Z Flip’s Flex Window, but it’s far more useful when it comes to DeX. It opens up the number of apps I can run at any one time and opening a previous app quickly, and now it seems like Samsung will take that away.
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