Samsung’s New DeX App for Windows and Mac Goes Live Ahead of Launch

Earlier this month, Samsung launched the new Galaxy Note 10. Along with the Note 10, Samsung announced some sweet upgrades to DeX, which lets users get a desktop-like experience from their Galaxy phones.

With the Note 10, Samsung is taking DeX a step further with stronger integration with Windows and Mac. The company is letting Note 10 users connect to their Windows or Mac device via a USB, and open up DeX on their existing computer. From there, you will be able to drag-and-drop files from your Windows/Mac device into your phone via DeX, and even use your device’s keyboard and mouse to control DeX itself.

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The new integration requires users to download a Samsung DeX app, which is supposed to available for download once the Note 10 starts shipping on August 23rd. But as spotted by XDA Developers, the new Samsung DeX app is already live on Samsung’s servers. You can download the app right now on your Windows or Mac device, but you will obviously need a compatible device like the Note 10 to actually use it.

Samsung does note that the new app is only available for Windows 7, Windows 10, and macOS 10.13 or newer devices. If you are getting a Note 10 later this week, you should probably download and install the new DeX app for Windows from here and for Mac from here (warning: it’s a direct download link) so it’s ready for when the device arrives.

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Conversation 24 comments

  • sgbassett

    Premium Member
    21 August, 2019 - 6:52 am

    <p>I used to be a Note loyalist, but everyone in my family uses iPhones, so I switched a few years ago. Now DeX is making me reconsider. I can see how that capability would be useful in my virtual appellate law practice. </p><p><br></p><p>I am a Windows user, so the better integration between Android and Windows 10 would be another bonus. </p><p><br></p><p>Tough decision ahead. </p>

    • Atoqir

      21 August, 2019 - 7:39 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450711">In reply to sgbassett:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Honest question? Why switch platform based on what your family has?</p><p>Or did they only want to use iMessage and iCloud-calendars for interaction?</p>

      • Tony Barrett

        21 August, 2019 - 7:49 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450717">In reply to Atoqir:</a></em></blockquote><p>iMessage is almost Apple's #1 ecosystem lock-in app. Some iPhone users almost couldn't consider life without it, and it's the main reason Apple have said iMessage will never come to Android.</p><p>As per your comment though – I back that up. Don't follow the crowd and be the same as other iPhone users all locked into their 'Apple says' mentality – have some independence and freedom!</p>

        • geschinger

          Premium Member
          21 August, 2019 - 11:13 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#450718">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Easier said than done if you use group messages and interact with a lot of iPhone users. I’ve seen – especially with younger users – people either kicking green bubbles out refusing to bring them on the thread as one green bubble in a group thread degrades the iMessage functionality for everyone else.</p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        21 August, 2019 - 9:16 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450717">In reply to Atoqir:</a></em></blockquote><p>It is interesting, over here iPhone usage hovers around the 16 – 18% market share. I don't know any Apple user that uses iMessage, everybody uses Telegram, Signal or WhatsApp, including the Apple users.</p>

        • Jorge Garcia

          21 August, 2019 - 7:54 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#450757">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>In Los Angeles California, Android DOES NOT EXIST. If you want to have friends, you MUST have iMessage. (I have no friends, btw, and I think you guys have surmised that by now :-)). I think you can maybe find Samsung phones in a homeless encampment or two. It is a real dirty stinking shame how Apple has painted so many unsuspecting people into a corner…and worse how so many people (I use the term lightly) are totally OK with that type of abuse. Oh, and when Apple releases a "new" feature, the people here are still very impressed by its fake novelty. I do not think that anyone here – that's normal at least – knows that pop-up cameras and in-display fingerprint readers actually exist and are on real phones, that you can buy.</p>

          • skane2600

            22 August, 2019 - 10:15 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#450937">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>So apparently there is nobody over the age of 30 in LA.</p>

            • Jorge Garcia

              23 August, 2019 - 4:06 am

              <blockquote><em><a href="#451161">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Honestly, there really isn't, regardless of actual chronological age. Maybe outside the core, in the suburbs there are.</p>

      • SvenJ

        21 August, 2019 - 11:55 am

        <blockquote><a href="#450717"><em>In reply to Atoqir:</em></a><em> </em>Another reason is 'tech support' and ecosystem commonality. Having everyone using the same experience makes it easier to help each other with features and functions. Everyone using the same cables, peripherals, makes sense too. If you forget a cable, chances are a family member has one that works. It's convenient.</blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Tony Barrett

    21 August, 2019 - 6:53 am

    <p>I actually had my first experience of Dex on a Note 9 recently. It's actually very, very impressive indeed. It was smooth, responsive, easy to use and didn't crash once – something new for Samsung! This is the best argument I've seen yet for using your phone as your only device – on small screens and scaled up to a full desktop. I can only imagine this new version will be even better.</p><p>Now, if Google could come up with something similar that worked on any Android device (although I guess it would be Pixel's only), they could be on to a winner. The thought of a full Android desktop via a USB-C to HDMI adapter sounds amazing.</p>

    • SvenJ

      21 August, 2019 - 11:51 am

      <blockquote><a href="#450712"><em>In reply to ghostrider:</em></a><em> </em>Guess it wasn't amazing enough when MS did it with Continuum on Windows Phones. </blockquote><p><br></p>

      • Jorge Garcia

        21 August, 2019 - 8:49 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450800">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>As with (almost) all things Microsoft, wrong time, wrong platform.</p>

      • dontbeevil

        22 August, 2019 - 4:24 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450800">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>continuum was amazing, in 2015 already, working with ALL UWP apps, properly scaling and properling working with all input devices… but you know it's ghostrider</p>

      • skane2600

        22 August, 2019 - 10:18 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#450800">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>Don't feel bad, DeX is a niche product too.</p>

        • Jorge Garcia

          23 August, 2019 - 4:05 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#451163">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's a harbinger product. Very different.</p>

  • Jorge Garcia

    21 August, 2019 - 7:48 pm

    <p>I wrote a letter to HP executives 2+ years ago urging them to make exactly this (An Android-based, Windows-like OS to slap on consumer-facing laptops and PC's) because if they didn't, Asian companies certainly would and make the American PC's look dated and unappealing, software-wise. Actual HP product execs got back to me, and politely told me I was insane. Well Samsung is no fly-by-night company, and they seem to know where normal people want PC's to go. What would be so bad/crazy about offering a "selectable" OS upon starting up an HP or Dell laptop? I mean you can still have a copy of Windows waiting on a separate partition, should you be so inclined to ever fire it up. My guess is 30-50-70%? of consumers would leave the Windows partition alone and handle all their business on Chrome and Office Apps present on the Android partition.</p>

    • skane2600

      23 August, 2019 - 12:05 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450934">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don't see much of a connection between your selectable OS proposal and what Samsung has done with DeX. I think your proposal makes the PC more complicated for the average person than what exists now.</p>

      • Jorge Garcia

        23 August, 2019 - 3:52 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#451185">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>No, it wouldn't be that complicated. A smartphone asks you a ton of questions upon purchase and my "PC" proposal would only be asking one, or none really. You simply buy a PC and the first time it starts up it tells you that it is running a slim and fast operating system capable of meeting most or all of your needs. It also says in the same dialog box that if you still prefer to run full windows, you can choose to do so at any time in the settings. Those who really want a Windows PC would only have to visit the "dumb-dumb OS" once in their life and check a box to always boot straight into windows. I give anyone who is voluntarily using Windows in 2019 enough credit to perform that task one time and understand why it is necessary. But there should also be an "advanced-user" toggle to always display a boot menu upon start-up, like GRUB, but more attractive, obviously.</p>

      • Jorge Garcia

        23 August, 2019 - 3:59 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#451185">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>The connection is that DeX is some Frankenstein melding of Linux and Android (yes I know Android is Linux) and in my opinion it is absolutely the most logical way to make a "Windows-lite" to put "in front of" a separate WOA Partition in 2019 because there is a already a massive existing software library available for it. Are the Apps appropriately optimized? For many we all know the answer is no, laughably no. But the key ones like the browser and numerous viewers are, and Microsoft even tuned up their office apps for DeX. The fact that a few Social media apps may still be clumsy to use is a very small price to pay for having a laptop that behaves like a mobile device in the ways people want it to (always connected, super good standby with negligible drain, fast boot-up/awaken, super long battery life, no fan, etc etc etc.) </p>

        • skane2600

          23 August, 2019 - 10:59 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#451211">In reply to JG1170:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's not a "laptop that behaves like a mobile device", it's a mobile device that can be hooked up to desktop peripherals to mimic certain aspects of a laptop. When your device is tethered to a desktop you likely also have WiFi and AC power available so always connected and super long batter life isn't that important (and, of course, all smartphones can be always connected and have batteries comparable to Samsung's).</p>

          • Jorge Garcia

            23 August, 2019 - 6:45 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#451275">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>No wonder my comments aggravate you – we are basically speaking about two different things, and I guess that is my fault for not clarifying. Whenever I'm talking about DeX, I am invariably describing it in its most useful incarnation…as the main OS on a laptop or laptop-like device like the Tab S6. I completely tune out those images of the Note 10 hooked up to a monitor as I honestly see next to no one connecting their smartphone to a monitor and keyboard/mouse and going to town. The first iteration of DeX (as a smartphone feature) was more marketing gimmick than anything else as it's true reason to exist is as a very lightweight and un-obnoxious OS for a tablet/laptop thing, or as a "training wheels" OS to slap in front of (or instead of) Windows on many consumer devices like $300 laptops, etc. The ONLY reason DeX will probably "fail" commercially is because it is proprietary to Samsung. But something near-identical to DeX will eventually catch on. ChromeOS is not it. Something about it turns off people. I have my theories.</p>

  • skane2600

    22 August, 2019 - 10:17 pm

    <p>Dex is great, just add a PC or Mac and you're good to go.</p>

    • Jorge Garcia

      23 August, 2019 - 4:16 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#451162">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>I totally agree with your jab. I see DeX (and the future DeX copycats) as "training wheels" OS's that can keep many normal people out of trouble but still accomplish their less-than-win32 needs. But….already having a PC or Mac fully booted up, to then go ahead and fire up DeX seems like an operation very few people would ever want to perform, including fanboy me because the real appeal of DeX is the way it behaves with its mobile-like host hardware like the Galaxy Tab S6.</p>

  • shootmycamera

    01 September, 2019 - 9:34 am

    <p>very very thanks for this usefull information.</p>

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