Samsung is seemingly unhappy with how few users browse through its pre-installed news aggregator, and as a result, it’s rebranding the service again — for a third time. The service started out as Samsung Daily but was replaced by Samsung Free in 2020. Later this month, it will be changed to Samsung News.

The change signals the tech giant’s desire to compete directly with rival Google Discover. According to a notice shared by Android Police​​​​​​, the new app will have a few layout changes and combines the “Read” and “Listen” tabs into one.

screenshot of samsung free changing to samsung news
Source: Moshe

That means some functions will disappear, likely indicating that they weren’t as popular as Samsung had initially hoped. In addition to reading news articles and listening to podcasts, there are dedicated tabs for watching videos and playing mobile games. Those two tabs will be kicked off.

“Unfortunately, though, the 'Watch' and 'Play' tabs will no longer be available in Samsung News,” the notice says. If you are still inclined to get your Samsung-provided free access to videos and games, you’ll need to download separate apps for each. Videos will be hosted on Samsung TV Plus, and games will be available through the Game Launcher app.

If Samsung is going to compete with Google Discover, it’s facing an uphill battle. Estimates have pegged monthly Google Discover users at 800 million and continue to grow as more features are added. In September last year, it tested doing away with the full-screen view for Discover and Search results and letting you block your least favorite YouTubers from the feed. Samsung Free comes pre-installed on Samsung Galaxy phones, but it still loses out to Google Discover.

The highly-personalized feed is easily accessed when opening the primary Google app on Android and iOS devices. While the biggest difference seems to be the name change, the consolidation of content with a greater focus on news content could prove to be interesting if executed correctly. It’s unclear if Samsung will be copying some features from Discover, developing its own, or keeping it more or less the same as before.

Starting April 18th, you will be able to access Samsung News if you update the Samsung Free app to version 6.0.1.

Source: Android Police