A Google user
5 years ago
This just will not work. I spent an hour with Samsung tech support trying to work out the reason for an unspecific 'Wifi error' on the application's PC counterpart when using 'smart view'. No progress wad made. This is disappointing as sidesync was fine and worked without issue. On top of this is Samsung's insistence that the PC counterpart is only available through the windows app store. Reply2: What I'm asking is why you would want to do that? The Microsoft store is bad and apps are always worse for using it. You can't even easily define where things are installed with it. Edit: As previously requested, I have sent an email outlining the steps that result in the failure as well as data showing that my wifi is okay and also a screen capture of the older product, SideSync, working on the same hardware/software.
Zach Kokorovic
2 years ago
****Edit: usb connectivity option has been restored, this review has been updated to reflect the much better experience while using this app**** This app was really good back when it was called SideSync. Unfortunatelya few updates ago; the ability to use USB for connecting to the PC which by the way had a far superior connection quality and faster response time with regards to the user interface and was much more stable.
Kurt H
3 years ago
Everything is perfect except I am unable to remove the Flow notification icon from the top of the phone. This is extremely annoying and is not the level of professional software development I expect from a company like Samsung. Extremely disappointing, as it turns an excellent app into a mediocre app. I think we had a misunderstanding, I was referring to the icon being present when not connected to the PC. When pulling down the notifications, it can only be closed using the dropdown box there. Every other app on my phone closes when I select "close all" EXCEPT this one. That is my complaint
A Google user
5 years ago
Samsung Flow is overall worse than Side Sync. It's constantly on and showing up on my notification bar with no way to hide it besides forcing a shutdown of the app. It also turns on Bluetooth despite only using a Wi-Fi connection which is incredibly annoying. The "Phone screen on/off" button also don't work correctly; it only dims/brightens the screen instead of turning it off/on. Overall, just very inconvenient, but not terrible.
A Google user
5 years ago
Wow. Just been using this for a couple of minutes and I'm already dumbfounded. What was wrong w/ sidesync? I could turn the screen off to save battery, or not. I could rotate the screen if I felt like. I could connect to PC w/ USB to improve responsiveness. And why do we have to get it from the MS store now? I'm really close to peacing out on Samsung altogether. That's just from less than 10 minutes perusing the "features". Or lack thereof, more rather.
A Google user
5 years ago
I got this app because my S9+ will no longer communicate with my PC via USB no matter what I do. I am using it only for file transfer and using the wifi option. Except for the fact that it won't do over 200 files at once, it does the job. It does crash after a bit of use and I have to X out of it. There are probably a ton more things I can use it for once I get more familiar with it. I like it except for the crashing and the file limit. I do wish I could delete files that i am transferring.
A Google user
5 years ago
options are lacking. I wanted something like deskdock for free. I was okay with controlling the phone on the windows screen unlike seeing the cursor on the phone, but I can't even choose to keep the sound coming out of the phone. Instead of having two devices with audio capabilities, this app downgrades it to one (I like to have music on the phone on speakers while I work/watch videos with the headset that's connected to the pc).
A Google user
6 years ago
Much better than SideSync. Seemless and fast connection, even when at work on an ethernet connection. Works with my phone in my pocket. Annoying features: 1) the screen is always on, which affects battery life; screen rotates when I stand up/sit down with phone in my pocket 2) no easy way to access the bottom three buttons of Note-8. Put them on the top of the screen (home, alt-tab, back) 3) can't use phone from PC 4) can't respond to notifications; no Win10 notifications
A Google user
6 years ago
It's an OK app, but it's a pain to get my phone and pc to connect. The only way I can get it to work is if I turn on Flow on both the computer and the phone, then in my phone go into Settings -> Notifications -> Advanced -> Samsung Flow and then toggle the notifications off and on again. Don't ask me why. It's the only way it works. I also don't like the fact that the notification is permanent... especially because it doesn't connect automatically.
Cyd Oldham
4 years ago
At first, once I figured out how to connect my devices, this app seemed like a miracle. BUT THEN, it disconnects every time you turn off one device, which means that my laptop is disconnected. Then it doesn't reconnect, and if I try to go in to the connection, it warns me that it will essentially delete the current connection (which isn't connected), to make a "new" connection. But that doesn't work either! I so wanted this to work, but right now it's just garbage.
A Google user
5 years ago
This app has great potential. With my Windows 10 laptop & Note 9, there's an issue on replying to any notifications from a group MMS message with Samsung Messages as my default texting app. The notification gives me no clue that it's from a group message, it just shows up as from an individual. I have no issues when using Android Messages as the default text appSecondly, I love that I can receive other notifications outside of the realm of texts, but what good are they if you can't act upon them. At least, automatically launch the phone mirror and launch the associated app for me, but I prefer not to. On the topic of phone mirror, can we have an easier way to unlock the phone without requiring picking up the phone, which defeats the point of using Flow. You can unlock your PC with Flow, which is great, but why not the other way around? Also, the app should have Android navigation buttons for easy access when phones setup to use gestures. Kind of a pain to perform gestures with a trackpad for phone navigation through the mirror or worse, configure my phone back to using navigation buttons before using Flow. And yes, I've walked through with Samsung Support, not impressed at all.
A Google user
5 years ago
Seems like with every new file transfer program Samsung takes a step backwards as to function and interface. I thought SideSync was bad but this program is even worse. Poor interface, almost primitive, tried to transfer two photos and after an hour gave up. Would not transfer files even though it was connected to my PC. Linked via WiFi or BlueTooth, still did not work. Everything was an a transfer error. Could not tag multiple files at once, etc. No help or user interface that made sense, and I have been using computers for 40 years. Much easier to just plug in a cable to transfer files, which is what I finally had to do. Samsung need to do some serious work on a better unified interface across platforms and better data exchange with data and mail programs that do not yield endless errors.
A Google user
6 years ago
I could figure out how to use Sidesync, but this one is too complicated to me. I also learned from reading the reviews that this app does not support USB. That is one of the best options should be kept. My recommendation to Samsung app team: *dumb it down for the setup. *add the USB feature back. *allow reading history of the text most importantly, get the new build run by someone who is not tech savvy. keep in mind, not everyone has software background like you.
A Google user
6 years ago
Can't connect using WiFi, only Bluetooth, and I've tried on multiple networks. Also not a fan of having to go into SmartView to start a new text message, and don't like the screen staying on (albeit dimmed) instead of going completely off. There's potential, but so far not worth keeping on my phone. Moving files is great and all. I personally just want to be able to text from my laptop comfortably and reliably.
A Google user
5 years ago
I'm being nice with 2 Starts. I installed the app so I could transfer videos "seamlessly". Well that was a joke. It a 15-second video well over a half hour to download over WiFi. When I opened the video, well I guess thats really it, it wasn't a video anymore. It only transferred the audio. I'm not going to test anything else because I'm just going to uninstall it.
Tim Ashley
1 year ago
Works well under normal circumstances but a bit weak in two critical usage areas: 1) Will not connect via USB cable, despite meeting all the criteria for doing so. Running Windows 10, Android v13. 2) When running Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, phone app hard crashes during cut scenes. Not every time, but enough to say so (around 60-70% of the time.) Requires me to reactivate the phone app and go through the whole connection process each time. Would really appreciate a stability pass soon. Thx!
A Google user
6 years ago
When it works, it's pretty good. Allows screen mirroring, which allows me to access everything on my phone. It just doesn't seem to maintain a very stable connection and when it loses the connection, you have to force stop it on the phone, and go to the task manager on the PC to kill the background process, then restart it all, just to get it to reconnect. Maybe there's an easier way, but I haven't found it. With SideSync, there was a USB connection option which was much more stable. Notifications seem to work well, when it stays connected. You can reply to text messages when you get a notification, without mirroring your screen, but if you want to initiate a message, you have to either pick up your phone, or mirror the screen and do it that way. All in all, this seems like it garners an incomplete rating. Allow me the ability to initiate texts without mirroring or picking up the phone and this would be a giant leap in functionality.
A Google user
5 years ago
Works pretty well. I've tried Airdroid and I recall it being a bit faster. Airdroid's security vulnerability history leaves something to be desired. I'm also skeptical about the roustness of the security of the Windows unlock feature. I use it on an older media server PC without FDE, so security is irrelevant anyway if someone gets the physical hardware. Please add the ability to screen mirror/tether via USB-C cable. My phone is generally out charging anyway, might as well get faster mirroring.
A Google user
6 years ago
This app feels like a beta release. There is a lot of stutter and delays. Trying to use the phone screen mirror only works intermittently. It is a shame Samsung is discontinuing SideSync with this app. I was able to type this review using SideSync. Trying to type a message on flow would have never happened. Mouse and keyboard interaction is simply horrible. I will keep using SideSync until Flow gets better. Another suggestion, put an option to hide the border around the phone screen, it looks bad.
A Google user
6 years ago
I just way to say how much I love Samsung phones. But... This app is really bad. Sidesync was way better. It was more beautiful and it worked. This app works when it wants to. It Connects to the phone whenever it wants. Most of the time it won't. Is it really that hard to add a button that will let you manually reconect your phone when the app decides it doesn't want to recognize that your trying to Connect to it? Most of the time I have to restart my computer just to get the app to realize that I'm trying to connect my phone. Also please black out the outside borders when in screen mirror mode. Noone wants to watch a mirrored video with a white glaring background. Samsung please fix this. I love you guys. I will not put up with medeocre apps like this though. If you can't make this work. go back to sidesync it was a wonderful app. At least it worked.