The Galaxy S10 has got a great, big, beautiful screen with some new tricks inside — like that fancy ultrasonic fingerprint sensor — but those tricks make buying a screen protector all the more important and all the more difficult. See, that in-screen fingerprint sensor can’t tolerate any air bubbles or gaps between the screen and the screen protector, so your best bets are plastic film protectors or the Whitestone Dome Glass, which is currently the only tempered glass screen protector we can find that plays nice with it.
UV for Ultrasonic Viable
Whitestone Dome Glass (2-Pack)
Staff pick
Whitestone’s Dome Glass screen protectors use a UV curing wet-install system to ensure a secure fit, and so far they claim to be the only tempered glass screen protectors that will work with the Galaxy S10’s ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor. Whitestone is mighty proud of its products and its pricing reflects that, but it’s still cheaper than replacing a broken screen.
$70 at Amazon
Glass protection from a film protector
ZAGG InvisibleShield Ultra Clear
Easy to install
ZAGG’s screen protector carries the “Designed for Samsung” certification, and while it’s not the tempered glass screen protectors we normally look to ZAGG for, the Ultra Clear film protectors are shiny, clear, and case-friendly quality. The lifetime warranty here is just as tough as ever, offering replacements if your film ever clouds, tears, or warps.
$30 at ZAGG
Smooth and selfie-friendly
LK HD Clear Screen Protector (3-Pack)
These thin TPU screen protectors are self-healing, case-friendly, bubble free, water and fingerprint resistant, and smooth to the touch so you aren’t fighting friction when you try to break your high score. LK uses laser cutouts so that you won’t have to deal with films messing with the selfie camera.
$10 at Amazon
Barely there
Qoosea Ultra-Thin Explosion-Proof (3-Pack)
Let’s hope your phone doesn’t need to test that “Explosion-Proof” claim, but this three-pack of protective films are easy to apply, thin enough to not get in the way, and give you spares should you rip or warp the first one. Plastic film protectors like these are easier to keep air bubbles out of, which means they shouldn’t have any issues with your fingerprint sensor.
$8 at Amazon
Case-friendly
Pulen Anti-Scratch PET Film (3-Pack)
Like the Qoosea, this three-pack of films are designed to go right over the hole-punch selfie cameras cleanly and keep air bubbles from interfering with the fingerprint sensor. These case-friendly films shouldn’t get peeled up by your case’s corners, allowing you to offer your screen some scratch protection as you carry it in your purse with keys and coins.
$9 at Amazon
Forget the fingerprints
ESR Tempered Glass Screen Protector (2-Pack)
Considering the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor isn’t really all its cracked up to be right now, you might say TO HECK WITH IT and use your PIN, like some neanderthal. If so, ESR is up front about saying these don’t work with the ultrasonic sensor, but they will protect the entire edge-to-edge screen from shatters, scratches, and scuffs.
$16 at Amazon
That ultrasonic sensor can’t stand gaps
Wondering why there’s so few tempered glass protectors around for the S10? Blame that gimmicky new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, because since it uses sound pressure waves to map and read your finger, there absolutely, positively cannot be any air gaps between your screen and its screen protector. While the Whitestone Dome Glass uses a patented UV-drying application system that ensures no air pockets or gaps between tempered glass and your Galaxy S10’s screen, other tempered glass screen protectors that use traditional adhesives around the edges leave gaps between the two that disrupt the ultrasonic sensor’s readings of your finger.
If you can’t stomach $70 to cover your screen, you’ll have to settle for film screen protectors like the ZAGG Ultra Clear or the LK 3-Pack. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles with cutting-edge tech sometimes.
What matters to you more: the fingerprint sensor or the screen it sits under?
While the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is neat, it’s also finicky and slow, and I’m betting that protecting that screen means more to you than using it. If that’s the case, you may want to consider disabling the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and instead using Smart Lock, Facial recognition, and PIN/Pattern/Password to secure your phone and grab yourself an affordable traditional tempered glass protector like the ESR Tempered Glass Screen Protector 2-pack.
As someone who has used Smart Lock since the old Moto X days when it was called Trusted Bluetooth, this is a useful feature that’s made me care a little less about the fingerprint sensor overall because so long as I’m wearing my smartwatch or my trusty headphones, I don’t need the use my fingerprint to unlock my phone more than once a day: when I wake up in the morning.
