Few features make a Samsung Galaxy phone feel like mine the way Samsung’s Modes and Routines do.
Depending on what I’m doing with my phone, I have a handful of modes that automatically activate and customize my experience.
Tailored wallpapers, notification settings, screen color profiles, speaker volume levels, and more.
It makes my phone more fun and interesting to use.
However, the not-so-fun thing about the feature is that it doesn’t sync across my Galaxy devices.
So a mode or routine I use on one device doesn’t transfer to my other device. That’s only one of the unfixed frustrations I’m having with Modes and Routines.
A new Galaxy phone means starting over
Smart Switch leaves your modes behind on your old device
Samsung’s Smart Switch page says the app can transfer all your data, including your device’s settings.
However, those “settings” do not include anything in your Modes and Routines.
So, when you switch from one Galaxy phone to another, you have to set up your modes and routines again on the new device.
This is very inconvenient. Even more frustrating is that there’s no way to automatically sync your modes and routines between your Galaxy phones.
Samsung Cloud only syncs things like your calendar and contacts. As someone who owns multiple Samsung phones, this lack of account-wide automatic sync is such a pain.
A lot of times, I might make changes to a particular mode on a phone.
When I’m on my other Galaxy device and do a similar action that’s supposed to use the tweak I made, the result falls short.
Most times, I thought the mode was malfunctioning, only to later realize I hadn’t replicated the change I made on one device to the other.
A productivity app like Modes and Routines shouldn’t be this stressful to use across devices.
Samsung lets me share my routine as JSON files
My modes don’t even get that much
Samsung’s native Modes and Routines feature doesn’t offer a way to transfer your modes or routines from one phone to another.
However, a dedicated Samsung app on the Galaxy Store called Routines+ can help. This app allows you to export your routines as JSON files and import them into another device.
The problem is that the process is cumbersome.
Importing a routine requires you to reselect most of the trigger conditions.
There’s no option to import it exactly as it was exported, which makes the process just as inconvenient as setting up the routine from scratch.
To top it off, the clunky sharing feature is not available for Modes.
Samsung needs to learn from Apple
Niche should never mean neglect
Although I could be wrong, it doesn’t seem to me that many Galaxy owners use Modes and Routines.
Still, I don’t accept that as a justification for not upgrading the feature.
Apple understands this. That’s why they built an automatic sync feature into Focus mode, their equivalent of Samsung’s Modes and Routines.
I think Samsung should take notes from Apple on how to build a good routine feature into its operating system.
Still, running my routines on One UI 9 wasn’t a complete disappointment.
My routines finally stopped tripping over themselves
But I don’t know whether to thank One UI 9 or the S24 Ultra
My Galaxy S22+ has a mode that starts Spotify and plays my last song when I open my workout app.
I also have a mode that activates Gray Scale and Do Not Disturb, and changes my wallpaper at a certain time of day.
Over time, I’ve noticed that if I accidentally activate a mode and switch it back off almost immediately, some parts of the mode get stuck.
Sometimes, the routine’s wallpaper permanently replaces my regular one. Other times, something else gets stuck.
I’ve also noticed over time that complex screen automations that swipe, scroll, and perform complex actions inside different apps rarely ever worked the way I set them up on my S22+.
But on an S24 Ultra, these issues were non-existent. One UI 9 might have fixed the problems.
At the same time, what I’m seeing might simply be the performance gap between a stronger phone and a weaker one.
I’m not 100% sure which, so I’ll take the win without handing out credit.
What I’m sure about, though, are the problems that remain with Modes and Routines on One UI 9.
Pack my routines for the next phone, Samsung
Modes and Routines finally behaved on the S24 Ultra I tested. But my modes and routines still only work on one phone at a time.
Until Samsung syncs my modes and routines through my Samsung account, every tweak I make on one Galaxy is one I have to remember to repeat on the other.
For me, this is too inconvenient to accept.
If Samsung can sync my contacts and calendar through my Samsung account, I don’t see why it can’t do the same with my modes and my routines.
