How to Change the Home Screen on Samsung: Layouts, Wallpapers, and Launchers Explained
Samsung's One UI gives you more control over your home screen than most Android skins — but that flexibility also means there are several layers to what "changing the home screen" actually involves. Whether you want to swap your wallpaper, reorganize your layout, or replace the entire launcher, the steps and outcomes vary depending on what you're trying to achieve.
What Counts as "Changing" the Home Screen?
On a Samsung device, the home screen is made up of several independent elements you can modify separately:
- Wallpaper — the background image on your home screen and lock screen
- Layout and grid size — how many app icons and widgets fit per page
- Widgets — live information panels (weather, calendar, music, etc.)
- App icons and theme — the visual style of your icons and UI elements
- Launcher — the underlying app that controls how your home screen behaves entirely
Each of these can be changed without touching the others, so "changing the home screen" means different things depending on your goal.
How to Change the Wallpaper on a Samsung Phone
The most common home screen change is swapping the wallpaper. Here's how it works on One UI:
- Long-press on an empty area of your home screen
- Tap Wallpaper and style from the menu that appears
- Choose My wallpapers, Gallery, or a live/motion wallpaper option
- Select your image and decide whether to apply it to the home screen, lock screen, or both
Samsung's Color palette feature (available on One UI 4 and later) can automatically pull accent colors from your wallpaper and apply them across the system UI, icons, and widgets. 🎨
Adjusting the Home Screen Layout and Grid
If the issue is how information is organized rather than how it looks, you can change the grid density:
- Long-press an empty area of the home screen
- Tap Settings (gear icon)
- Select Home screen grid or Apps screen grid
- Choose from available grid options (typically ranging from 4×5 to 5×6 depending on your device)
A tighter grid fits more icons per page. A looser grid gives you more breathing room and makes individual icons easier to tap. Some older Samsung models offer fewer grid options than flagship devices running newer One UI versions.
Within the same settings menu, you can also toggle options like:
- Show recent apps button
- App icon badges
- Folder layout
- Swipe down for notification panel
Adding and Removing Widgets
Widgets sit between wallpapers and full apps — they display live data directly on your home screen without requiring you to open anything.
To add a widget on Samsung One UI:
- Long-press an empty area of the home screen
- Tap Widgets
- Browse by app category or scroll through available widgets
- Long-press a widget and drag it to your preferred home screen position
Widget availability depends on what apps you have installed. Some Samsung-native widgets (like Samsung Weather or Bixby Routines) behave differently from third-party app widgets in terms of update frequency and customization depth.
Changing Themes and Icon Packs via Galaxy Themes
Samsung has a built-in theming system that lets you swap icon shapes, colors, and fonts all at once:
- Open the Settings app
- Go to Wallpaper and style → Themes (or search "Themes" in Settings)
- Browse free and paid options in the Galaxy Store
A full theme typically changes your wallpaper, icons, Always On Display style, and system font simultaneously. Individual elements — icons only, font only — can often be changed independently within the same Themes section.
Note: Theme availability and the scope of what each theme modifies can vary between One UI versions and device models.
Replacing the Launcher Entirely 🔄
If you want a fundamentally different home screen experience — different gestures, app drawer behavior, or a completely different visual style — you can install a third-party launcher from the Google Play Store.
Popular options generally fall into these categories:
| Launcher Type | What Changes | Who Typically Uses It |
|---|---|---|
| Minimal launchers | Removes visual clutter, text-only layouts | Power users, productivity-focused |
| Feature-rich launchers | Adds gesture controls, custom animations | Enthusiasts who want full control |
| Stock Android launchers | Closer to Pixel-style interface | Users who dislike One UI's aesthetic |
| Grid-heavy launchers | Maximizes information density | Users coming from older Android devices |
To set a third-party launcher as default:
- Install the launcher from the Play Store
- Press the Home button — Android will prompt you to choose a default
- Select your new launcher and tap Always
You can revert to Samsung's default launcher (One UI Home) at any time through Settings → Apps → Default apps → Home app.
What Affects Your Results
Not every Samsung device handles these options identically. The variables that shape what's available to you include:
- One UI version — newer versions (4.0, 5.0, 6.0+) include features like color theming and stack widgets that older versions don't
- Device tier — flagship Galaxy S and Z series devices often get One UI features before mid-range A series models
- Android version — some customization features are tied to the underlying Android version, not just One UI
- Installed apps — widget options and theme interactions depend on what you have installed
- Third-party launcher compatibility — some Samsung-specific features (like Edge Panels or DeX mode) may not work correctly when a non-Samsung launcher is active
The depth of home screen customization available to you is, in practice, a combination of your specific hardware, software version, and which layer of the home screen you're trying to change — and those combinations don't always behave the same way across the Samsung lineup.