S25 game booster not recognizing apks installed

[Abdelnasser]

I'm on the s25 ultra and l have a problem with game booster. It doesn't allow any games installed outside the Google or Samsung stores to be recognized as games in the game booster. It wasn't like this before. How do l fix this. Its not an error. I can still install the game, it just won't be in game booster, even if the same app is if l install it on Google play store or Samsung store. 

If l install a game from play store its added to this list. If l install the same app outside of the stores its not. This is a one ui 7 new thing. I want to fix it.

[kumararyan]

Hi there! I understand your frustration with Game Booster not recognizing games installed outside the Google Play Store or Samsung Galaxy Store on your S25 Ultra. This behavior seems to be intentional with the latest One UI 7 update, as Game Booster now prioritizes apps from official stores for optimization and compatibility reasons. Unfortunately, there’s no direct setting to force Game Booster to recognize sideloaded APKs at this time.

A few things you could try:

1. Check Game Booster Settings: Go to Gaming Hub > More Options (three dots) > Game Booster > Customizations for individual games. See if you can manually add the sideloaded game there (though this might not work for unrecognized apps).

1. Reinstall via Official Stores: If possible, try installing the same game from the Play Store or Galaxy Store, as you’ve noticed it works that way.

1. Feedback to Samsung: Since this is a new One UI 7 change, you could report it via the Samsung Members app under “Send Feedback” to let them know you’d like support for sideloaded games.

For now, this seems to be a limitation rather than a bug. If anyone else has found a workaround, feel free to chime in! Hope this helps a bit.

[Mjhieu]

I have the same issue with sideloaded games not being recognized as games in gaming hubs, so there is no support on the game booster list. They work fine on the S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra, and S24 Ultra, but not on the S25 Ultra. I filed feedback with Samsung Members Vietnam. If they don't fix it, I will switch to Xiaomi next year. There's no point in spending $1300 and having them start to limit gaming features on their phones.