Samsung launched the third beta version of One UI 15, its own interface for Android 13, and it didn’t take long for a spark to jump around one of its novelties: new lock screen customization options… in purest iOS 16 style? The truth is, yes, but no.

Let’s face it: Apple has flashes of genius from time to time that they pay for like no other, basically by having to make sure everything works well on a few device models… Well, yeah, why deny it. An example of a good idea that the new iPhone 14 brings with it is the Dynamic Island. But the same cannot be said about the options for customizing the lock screen.

While one of the new features of iOS 16 is the expansion of lock screen customization options and the new One UI 5 beta uses almost the same options -some more, some less- in the same way Samsung cannot be said to be copying Apple, less blatantly, just because the change coincides with the time. For several valid reasons.

Here is one source of error, via Twitter

The first because if Apple released the iOS 16 beta in July, Samsung did the same with the second One UI 5 beta in August, and developers don’t do magic or implement these things in a few weeks, also holidays halfway around the world. The second and final reason Samsung isn’t copying Apple on this feature is actually the same reason it introduced the feature so quickly: because they already had it all.

As Samsung phone users know, many of the company’s proprietary apps for its phones include Good Lock, one to take One UI customization to a deeper level. Aesthetic adjustment, but also practice, eye. Y Among the Google Lock modules is the LockStar moduleone specifically dedicated to customizing the lock screen, which since the beginning of the year had most of the options they are now accused of copying.



What’s new with One UI 5 is that features that were provided separately with Google Lock and LockStar have been integrated into the default system options. So no, Samsung didn’t copy Apple. If anything, it would be the other way around.

In fact, even before Samsung implemented this type of feature in its apps, there were already third-party apps of this type. Apps that do not exist for iOS due to their closedness. Not only that: in addition to Samsung, other manufacturers such as Xiaomi have taken the first steps to customize everything, including the lock screen, and Xiaomi users have also been able to customize it for a long time with different themes that include different layouts, widgetsetc.

That Apple sometimes does things better than the competition is one thing. That he will do it first, completely different, which usually does not come true, even though it may seem otherwise.