Samsung Game Launcher Is Now Gaming Hub: How to Use It

Samsung Game Launcher is called Gaming Hub now. It does the same job under the new name: one app that gathers the games on a Galaxy phone or tablet and holds their settings. The panel of tools that appears while a game is running is a separate app, Game Booster.

Two things have changed since the Game Launcher days. Priority mode has left Game Booster, and a Game mode under Modes and Routines does that job. Gaming Hub also needs a Samsung account now.

The steps below are Samsung’s, taken from the support pages named in each section. Samsung’s pages carry a standing warning that menus differ by model, software version and region, so a label may be worded slightly differently on yours.

What Game Launcher became

Samsung’s US newsroom introduced Gaming Hub for mobile in 2024 as the next stage of the Game Launcher feature on Galaxy devices, and said the Game Launcher features were still in the app. A 2026 update, which Samsung calls Mobile Gaming Hub, redesigned it, brought every game from the Galaxy Store into it and added recommendations and YouTube clips. Samsung says that version is on Galaxy phones and tablets worldwide.

Samsung Africa’s page Know More About Gaming Hub lists what the app holds today:

My games: every installed game with the time you last played it, most recent first.
Gamer Profile: a nickname and picture, with your play time and longest streak.
Mute, bookmarks and game notifications.
Game Booster: the performance settings.
Instant Plays and cloud games: games that start without being installed.

Not every Galaxy has it. Samsung’s US support site names the Galaxy A02s, A03s and A14 5G as phones without Gaming Hub or Game Booster. If you are choosing a Galaxy A for games, our comparison of this year’s Galaxy A phones gives the chip in each one.

Set up Gaming Hub

These steps are from Use Gaming Hub and gaming options on your Galaxy device on Samsung’s US support site.

Open the Gaming Hub app. It is on the Apps screen or in the Samsung folder.
Read the Samsung account information and tap Continue.
Allow the permissions it asks for.
Back on the main screen, tap a game to start it.

The Samsung account. That page says a Samsung account is required to use Gaming Hub, and so does Samsung Africa’s page How to use and update Gaming Hub. Your play time and game history then sync across devices signed in to the same account. Samsung’s older pages said only the Gamer Profile needed an account, so this is a change.

Limits by country. Samsung says the game recommendations, which include cloud games and Instant Plays, may not be available in some countries or regions. Its support pages give no list. Its newsroom has announced the cloud gaming service for North America and, as a beta, for the UK and Germany.

Add, remove or hide games

Games downloaded from the app store are added by themselves. For anything Gaming Hub misses, Samsung Africa’s page How to add and remove apps in the Gaming Hub app gives these steps.

Open Gaming Hub and select My games.
Tap the More options icon, then Add games.
Select the app or game and tap Add to Gaming Hub.

To take one out, tap and hold it in My games and choose Remove from Gaming Hub. That removes it from the hub only. Choosing Uninstall removes it from the phone.

Hiding is the default. Once Gaming Hub is set up, Samsung says games appear only inside it, which is why game icons vanish from the Home screen. The setting is on the page What to do if installed game icons do not appear on the Home and Apps screen:

Open Gaming Hub and tap More options at the top right.
Tap Settings, then Show game apps.
Choose In Gaming Hub and the Home and Apps screens to get the icons back. The Gaming Hub only option hides them again.

Samsung notes that this setting appears only with its own One UI Home launcher. On app versions older than 7.0, More options sits at the bottom right.

Open Game Booster in a game

Game Booster starts by itself when a game opens. Samsung’s US page says to tap the Game Booster icon at the left end of the navigation bar, and to swipe up first if the game fills the screen. If you use swipe gestures and have no buttons, Samsung Africa’s page Know more about the Game Booster app says to pull down the notification panel and tap the Game Booster notification.

The panel gives quick access to other apps and a set of shortcuts. Samsung lists Game mode, Touch booster, Screenshot, Record, Block navigation buttons, Block edge panel, Block auto brightness, Block Bixby, Floating menu, System monitor and Touch protection. It also says Game Booster may not be available for every game.

Game Booster settings and performance

Samsung’s US troubleshooting page for One UI 8.5, Cannot access Game Booster settings after software update, gives three ways into the settings:

Settings, then Advanced features, then Game Booster settings.
During a game, the Settings icon on the Game Booster panel.
Gaming Hub, then More options at the top right, then Game Booster.

The performance steps come from Samsung Africa’s page Updates to Game Booster settings and features on the Samsung Galaxy devices, written for One UI 7.

For all games: in Game Booster, tap Game optimisation and pick Performance, Standard or Battery saver. Samsung describes Performance as the strongest setting, which drains the battery faster, Standard as the balance, and Battery saver as holding performance back to make a charge last.

For one game: in Game Booster, tap Customisations for individual games, select the game, set its optimisation level, frames per second, screen resolution and frame booster, and tap Save.

Samsung’s US page describes one more switch, Pause USB PD charging when gaming. With a charger plugged in, it sends the charger’s power to the game and stops charging the battery. The models Samsung lists for it run from the Galaxy S22 series to the S24 series, with a few others.

Priority mode and notifications

Priority mode used to sit in Game Booster and silence calls and alerts. The same Samsung Africa page says that from One UI 7 this is set up as a Game mode in Modes and Routines, with more options, Do not disturb among them.

Open Settings and tap Modes and Routines.
Tap Game.
Choose when Game mode should turn on by itself, then tap Next.
Set Do not disturb the way you want it and tap Done.
Select any other actions and tap Done.
Check the summary and change anything that is wrong.

That is why the old priority mode switch is no longer in Game Booster.

Game sound. Samsung Africa’s page What to do if game sound cannot be heard puts the control in Gaming Hub: open My games and tap the Mute icon. Mute does not apply to Instant Play games, and Samsung says some models do not have it.

Game notifications. In Gaming Hub, Samsung says notifications can be read by date or by game, and that Game notification settings at the top right let you receive game notifications only inside the Gaming Hub app.

Record a game or take a screenshot

Screenshot and Record are two of the shortcuts on the Game Booster panel. Open the panel during a game and tap the one you want.

Samsung Africa’s page How to take screenshots and recordings in the Game Booster app adds a fix for when the recording options do not show. Open Settings, tap Advanced features, tap Screenshots and screen recorder and turn the screenshot toolbar on. It also warns that screenshots may not work inside Secure Folder.

Turn Gaming Hub off

Samsung’s instruction is on its Africa page Learn how to use Gaming Hub: open Settings, tap Advanced features, and enable or disable Gaming Hub on that screen.

That page is older than the current app. Samsung’s newer pages do not repeat the step, and none of the pages we read covers One UI 9 by name, so the switch may not be on your phone. Samsung documents two other things that do most of the same job:

Game icons back on the Home screen: the Show game apps setting described above.
Your data removed: in Gaming Hub, tap More options, then Settings, then Erase personal data. Samsung warns that deleted data may not be recovered.

If Game Booster settings will not open

Samsung’s troubleshooting page says the Game Booster settings menu can fail to open after the One UI 8.5 update, because of a problem with the screenshot format setting. Its fix has two parts.

Reset Game Booster. Open Settings and tap Apps. Tap the Filter and sort icon, turn on Show system apps, find Game Booster, tap Storage, then Clear data, and confirm. This wipes your Game Booster settings.
Update it. Open the Galaxy Store, tap Menu, then Updates.

Quick answers

Is Samsung Game Launcher the same as Gaming Hub?

Yes. Samsung describes Gaming Hub for mobile as the next stage of Game Launcher, with the same features in the app. Samsung’s support pages now use the new name.

Do I need a Samsung account for Gaming Hub?

Yes, on Samsung’s current pages. Both its US page and its Africa page say an account is required to use the app.

Where did priority mode go?

From One UI 7 it is a Game mode under Settings, Modes and Routines. Game Booster no longer has the switch.

Where are the Game Booster settings?

Under Settings, Advanced features, Game Booster settings. You can also reach them from the Game Booster panel in a game, or from More options in Gaming Hub.

Can I download Game Launcher as an APK?

Samsung describes Gaming Hub as an app for Galaxy phones and tablets and sends you to the Galaxy Store to update it. We would not install an APK of it from a download site.