When you ask Android users what’s the biggest forte of this OS, most people will talk about ways Android handles customization. And the focus of Android 12 is, besides some privacy-oriented and ease-of-use improvements, mainly on the way the UI looks. Material You design language is currently available on some Android devices but the majority won’t get it at all and some will need to wait. Luckily, if you own a Samsung smartphone that runs on OneUI 2.5 or later, you can get Material You without Android 12. Learn how below.
Use Good Lock for Material You on any Samsung phone or tablet
Opinions on Material You in Android 12 are divided. Some people see it as a step backward as it takes some control from users. Others are really happy about the color theming and enjoy the colorful UI on their Pixels and other supported devices.
For those who don’t know what’s the main shtick, Material You adaptive theming takes some colors from the current Home Screen wallpaper and changes the UI color palette to that color. For example, if you put on predominantly blue wallpaper, you’ll get a choice between a few shades of blue.
Other OEMs are often taking major features introduced by Google and adding them to their Android skins, too. In the exact or slightly different manner. This is the case with Samsung and the adoption of Android 12. The OneUI 4 on top of Android 12 brings Material You theming to Samsung in an almost exact manner as you can see on Pixel devices.
But, what about devices that are not eligible to get OneUI 4? There’s always a way and, in this case, you’ll need the Good Lock to mimic the Material You on Samsung smartphones running on OneUI 3 and older iterations (not older than Android 8 Oreo). We’re looking for a Good Lock module called Theme Park.
Samsung smartphones are available globally but some features aren’t and that’s just plain sad. With Good Lock, Samsung phones are one of the most customizable in the market. Without it, not so much. Officially and at the time we’re writing this, only users in 15 countries can use Good Lock to make various minutiae changes to UI. It’s not available for the rest, not via Galaxy Store, at least.
Luckily, there’s a way to get the Good Lock app and, with some tweaking, get Material You on your Samsung in a matter of minutes.
How to get the Theme Park Good Lock module
If you are in the supported region, all you need to do is open Galaxy Store on your Samsung and look for Good Lock. Once you install the app, open it, then open the Theme Park module, and you are halfway there.
On the other hand, if you can’t find it or it says that the app is not supported, prepare for some extra work. Your device needs to be on OneUI 2.5 or newer for it to work.
Here’s how to get the Theme Park module on your Samsung from unsupported regions:
- Download Fine Lock: Launcher for Good Lock and Galaxy Labs from Play Store.
- Tap Theme Park and follow the link that will take you to APK Mirror where you can download an APK of the latest version of Theme Park.
- Download Theme Park and run the APK. Grant Fine Lock permission to install apps from unknown sources when asked to.
- This will create a shortcut for Theme Park on your Home Screen or in the App Drawer.
This app will not only allow you to use Good Lock and Galaxy Labs modules, but it will notify you when updates are available. Some other apps do the same but Fine Lock is, in my opinion, above the competition.
How to create Material You theme with Theme Park on Samsung
Once you get your hands on the Theme Park module, the rest is somewhat simple. Just tap Create New and select either the current wallpaper or another one from Gallery. Now, this is where the fun begins.
You’ll see the color palette at the bottom with suggested colors. Of course, you can use HEX (find HEX Library and copy the code so you can paste it into Theme Park) to add some other color that fits your preference. Above the color tab, you’ll see 10 different sections. The sections are (left to right, the top row then the bottom) as follows:
- Wallpaper
- Icons
- Quick Panel
- Samsung Phone/Dialer
- Title menus colors
- Lock Screen
- Samsung Keyboard
- Samsung Messages
- System Settings
- Samsung Clock.
Some categories are just there as a preview and you can’t access them. Some allow you to tweak colors in detail. You can tap on the crescent moon icon to switch between Dark and Light modes to see how both look with your chosen color palette.
Now, you can go out of your way and tweak everything or opt out of the Material You approach. The simpler way is just to choose the color palette from the bottom based on your background wallpaper and save the theme.
To save themes, tap on the Download icon at the top right corner. Name the theme and save it. To apply the theme, just tap on it and tap Apply. As simple as that.
The possibilities are immense and I spent hours tweaking everything to my liking so you might want to do that, as well. Or go straight for the simple option analogous to Android 12 Material You. Enjoy!
That should do it. Thank you for reading and don’t forget to post questions or suggestions in the comments section below. Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Editor’s note: This article was initially published in December 2021. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.
