Samsung offers several apps that duplicate the functionality of Google's apps and services. The list of such apps is pretty long and includes Samsung Keyboard, Calendar, Galaxy Store, Internet, Notes, and more. There's also Samsung Free, the Korean giant's own content aggregator version of Google Discover. Chances are you must be hearing about Samsung Free for the first time, which shows the service has failed to gather consumer interest. To fix this, Samsung is making some changes to its content aggregator, including rebranding it to Samsung News.

Samsung Free debuted as a part of One UI 3 and Android 11. It can be accessed by going to the leftmost homescreen on your Galaxy phone. Unlike Google Discover, Samsung Free segregates content into Watch, Listen, Read, and Play tabs.

As a part of the transition to Samsung News, the Korean giant will combine the Read and Listen tabs into one. It will also focus more on news content, mirroring Google Discover's functionality and making it a direct competitor.

Samsung Free being renamed to Samsung News
Source: Moshe

On paper, segregating content into different tabs sounds like a good idea, but it seemingly failed to click with end users. With this upcoming name change and a renewed focus on news, Samsung hopes to change that.

The Watch and Play tabs will also be retired as a part of the rebranding. If you want to access the content shown in these two tabs, you can use the Samsung TV Plus and Game Launcher apps. Both are available for download from the Galaxy Store.

Samsung News will start rolling out starting April 18 as an update to the Samsung Free app with v6.0.1. Thankfully, you can customize your One UI homescreen to disable Samsung Free entirely and use Google Discover instead. So, you don't have to put up with Samsung's content aggregator service if you don't want to.

Thanks: Moshe!