Useless Samsung app is going away first thing next year

The news is that Samsung will discontinue the Video Library app on January 1, 2024. The company sent a notice explaining that it will no longer update the app or provide compatibility support for Android 14 / One UI 6.0 and future updates.

Samsung says that “after the discontinuation date [January 1, 2024], you can continue to use the app […] in the OS versions or supported models,” including:

• Android 6 to Android 13.
• Galaxy S5 to Galaxy S23 series.
• Galaxy Note 4 to Galaxy Note 20.
• All Galaxy Z, A, and M models.

We have tried launching the Video Library app on the Galaxy S23 running stable One UI 6.0 — which went live earlier today — and we can confirm it doesn't work. It's stuck in a permission loop.

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Samsung's end-of-support notice states that “it has become difficult to continue the service due to the low usage and activation rate and the difficulty of distinguishing Samsung Video Library from other apps,” presumably the Gallery app and its Video Player and Video Editor components.

Samsung continues streamlining One UI 6.0

As its name suggests, the Video Library app is sort of like a gallery app limited to video file formats. There's nothing special about it compared to the Gallery app, and with the latter already offering a robust video player and video editor, it's difficult to see the usefulness of Samsung Video Library in this day and age. Seemingly, most Galaxy device owners don't see a reason to use it, and most have forgotten it even exists.

Although it may be bad news for the few Samsung Video Library users that may still exist, this should work out for the best for most customers. Samsung has been streamlining One UI with every recent update, shedding features that are either unused or already exist in a different form.

All in all, the company is trying to make the One UI experience more user-friendly, less confusing, and less bloated. Discontinuing the Video Library app is a needed step toward getting closer to that goal.

Once again, Video Library going away doesn't mean Galaxy device users won't be able to watch videos saved on local storage. On the contrary, they can do that through the Gallery app, which offers a wide selection of editing tools. Samsung is simply getting rid of an app that, unfortunately, couldn't keep up with the times and has become bloatware due to low usage.