How I use Samsung One Hand Operation + to eliminate awkward thumb stretches

10 Nov 2026, 20:00 by Ben Khalesi · Android Police

Modern smartphones are an ergonomic mess, and we all pretend they're not.

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We're living with this collective lie that phones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, a 6.9-inch slab of glass, were designed with human hands in mind. They weren't.

They're great for watching videos and scrolling content.

They're not so great when your thumb has to stretch for the upper-left corner. We've been taught to accept this as the price we pay for a big screen.

But I'm not willing to settle for that. The interface should work around the user, not the other way around.

This is how I made my phone easier to use with Good Lock. Let me walk you through it.

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One Hand Operation + fixes big phones properly

No more awkward thumb stretches

One Hand Operation + is one of Samsung's most underrated tools. It lives inside Good Lock, an optional customization suite most users never think about opening.

Good Lock was previously region‑restricted and required workarounds. Samsung has expanded availability. Good Lock is now available in more countries via the Galaxy Store and Google Play Store, reducing the need for such workarounds.

To get around it, people used VPNs, SIM card tricks, or sideloaded APKs. It was a bizarre workaround. Thankfully, that's no longer necessary.

One Hand Operation + places customizable handles on your screen edges, replacing awkward thumb stretches with simple swipes.

It tracks angle and length, effectively turning three directions into six distinct gestures. These are straight inward, diagonally up, and diagonally down (along with long swipes) on both left and right handles.

You can map these to many system actions, bypassing standard navigation limits for total device control.

You can customize it however you like, but this setup is how I finally solved my navigation problems.

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Fixing the Accidental back swipe

I use the Back command more than anything else on my phone, but the standard setup often gets in the way of other apps.

If you've ever been kicked out of a photo carousel because your phone misread a scroll, you know exactly what I mean.

One Hand Operation + moves the interface out of your way by giving you granular control over the gesture handles.

You can narrow the trigger zones or reposition them to avoid accidental back swipes.

Pulling down notifications without reaching up

One Hand Operation + adds six unique gesture slots on each side of the screen.

For me, diagonal up opens Recent Apps, and diagonal down pulls the notification panel. I keep the horizontal swipe for the standard Back command.

These two simple changes end hand gymnastics.

Instead of reaching way up to pull down the shade, I slide my thumb at a 45-degree angle from where it's naturally resting.

System controls without leaving the app

One Hand Operation + is also a shortcut engine that sits in your thumb's comfort zone. You can set a long swipe (holding the gesture for ~300ms) to pull up the Quick tools.

It has the standard toggles like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For more control, you can add system actions like screenshots, flashlights, or Do Not Disturb.

Another favorite trick is mapping Previous App. It's the closest thing to having an Alt+Tab key. It lets me jump back and forth between whatever two apps I'm using.

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Bonus: RegiStar turns the phone itself into a shortcut

Use the phone's backplate to navigate your screen

After you've mastered the screen, you start to see the hardware buttons as wasted space. RegiStar changes that by turning the entire phone into an input device.

It adds a back-tap feature that turns the phone's backplate into a giant button. RegiStar uses the device's gyroscope and accelerometer to detect firm taps on the rear casing.

I've mapped the double back tap to Samsung Wallet and the triple tap to take a screenshot.

Back-tap action in RegiStar is device-limited and not available on all Galaxy models (some A-series and Flip models lack full support).

The point where you can't go back

I won't sugarcoat it, you'll have to put in some work to master One Hand Operation +. The learning curve is no joke.

The interface is a dense collection of menus and arrows that make no sense at first. I had to talk myself out of pressing uninstall multiple times.

However, after three days, you reach a point of no return. You realize you can never go back to stock navigation. So download the app and ignore the ugly interface.

Set up a diagonal swipe for the notification panel. Force yourself to use it for three days. By the fourth, you'll be remapping your entire phone, and your thumb will thank you.

It's navigation that actually respects how we use our phones.