It’s time for our yearly rant on Samsung’s Good Lock staying region-locked

The end of 2022 is drawing near. SDC22 is behind us, and we’re all looking forward to the release of the Galaxy S23 in early 2023. One UI 5.0 is here, and most of us are very happy with how the Android 13-based update turned out. At the same time, most of us are also still yearning for Good Lock to arrive in more regions, and given this editorial’s title, you probably know what’s coming.

If you’ve been a long-time SamMobile reader, you’re likely aware that this is not the first time we’re bringing this issue of Good Lock being region-locked into the spotlight through an opinion piece. And true to that definition, we members of SamMobile don’t always agree on everything that has to do with Samsung. That’s the beauty of an opinion piece, you see.

However, if there’s one point we can all agree on unanimously, it’s that Good Lock is available only in roughly a dozen markets when it should see a widespread release. So, in another possibly-desperate attempt to convince Samsung to change its approach, here’s our now-yearly rant on Good Lock remaining region-locked to this day.

Will we succeed in changing Samsung’s mind? Probably not, seeing how we’ve been waiting for Good Lock to have a global release for many years. Nevertheless, Samsung’s own Galaxy Store advises anyone who tries accessing a region-locked app like Good Lock to “contact the content provider if you want them to add support for your country or region.” So, we’ll try to do our part again and hopefully bring this issue to Samsung’s attention at least once more.

We appreciate that Good Lock has become available in more countries, but it is not enough

The good news is that Samsung and the Good Lock team appear to be listening to the feedback — albeit progress is extremely slow. The experimental platform went live in more regions over the past few years. It is now available in over a dozen markets, including a few European countries like Germany and Spain. Last year, Good Lock developers hinted that more countries could support the platform soon, and while their efforts are appreciated, nothing short of a worldwide release is good enough for the now-beloved Good Lock platform.

We understand why Samsung may not want to offer Good Lock on Galaxy smartphones and tablets out of the box, and with this part, we agree. After all, Good Lock is a highly customizable experimental platform prone to confusing some customers or adding an unnecessary layer of difficulty to the UX. The Good Lock team might not want to deal with user complaints that could stem from Good Lock becoming an out-of-the-box solution. And rightfully so. Offering a more streamlined One UI experience is the consumer-friendly way in this day and age, and if anything, One UI 5.0 seemingly proves that point.

Nevertheless, Good Lock has amassed over 37 million downloads since its release, as it is. So it’s hard to believe that region-locking an app is the best solution for avoiding a potentially-underwhelming amount of customers writing in. That is especially true when the experimental app in question doesn’t come pre-loaded with One UI and must be downloaded separately from the Galaxy Store by anyone who wants to try it. And besides, if that were the case, a whole lot more mobile apps wouldn’t see a worldwide release.

But perhaps more importantly, Good Lock is an invaluable feedback-gathering tool often used to shape the future of One UI. If anything, we think Samsung should do what it can to gather customer feedback from Galaxy device users worldwide — especially nowadays when the company has the power of machine learning systems at its disposal. Otherwise, Samsung is essentially allowing customers in a few markets to set the tone for the One UI user experience for everyone — even for customers in regions where Good Lock is unavailable. There’s an unnecessary and unearned sense of privilege to it all.

At the end of the day, nobody seems to know precisely why Good Lock is not available worldwide. It’s all guesswork at this point, and the vague reasons that do exist haven’t satisfied anyone. Perhaps Samsung is unwilling to spend the necessary resources gathering feedback in too many languages — although the existence of Samsung Members suggests otherwise. But to be honest, there’s little benefit to trying to guess why Good Lock remains region-locked. It’s not like knowing the reason(s) will bring Good Lock to our Galaxy phones and tablets. Maybe it would stop us from writing these sorts of Good Lock-related editorials every year. But until Good Lock becomes available worldwide, as we believe it should, we may never stop asking Samsung to change its mind.

Thank you for your time!