Samsung has come a long way since its TouchWiz days. Back then, the Android software interface on its older smartphones had tons of bloatware, an atrocious design, and obfuscated settings. The company turned things around with One UI, the new and improved interface available on its phones since 2018. It’s attractive, customizable, and concise, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
Several helpful settings are turned off by default, and it’s not immediately obvious how to turn off a few annoying features. If you’ve bought a new Galaxy phone, here are several key Samsung settings to change to make the most of your handset.
For more tips and recommendations, read our related guides—Best Samsung Phones, Best Galaxy S25 Cases—and our explainers on How to Set Up Your Android Phone, Android Settings You May Not Know About, and How to Back Up Your Android Phone.
Updated February 2025: We’ve refreshed the pathways for these settings and added new sections with Galaxy AI features.
Switch to Gesture Navigation
Android introduced a Gesture navigation system to get around the interface several years ago, but by default Samsung devices still use the traditional three-button navigation system. If that’s what you prefer, that’s fine! You can skip to our next suggestion. But if you prefer gesture navigation, here’s how to turn it on. Head to Settings > Display > Navigation bar and choose Swipe gestures. You can tweak the sensitivity of the back gesture in More options.
You’ll also find Google’s Circle to Search function here on supported Samsung devices, and you can turn it on or off. Circle to Search lets you press and hold the home button (or the pill-shaped bar if you have gesture navigation turned on), and then circle anything on the screen to run a Google Search. (It can even run an audio search based on the media playing from your phone’s speakers.)
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Change the Power Key’s Action
I’m of the mind that pressing and holding the power key should take your phone directly to the power menu, so you can turn it off or restart it. But depending on your Galaxy phone, it might default to Samsung’s Bixby assistant or Google’s Gemini assistant. If you want the old-school power settings back, head to Settings > Advanced features > Side button and tap Power off menu for the press-and-hold action. Here, you can also decide whether you want to change the double-press action, which by default launches the camera.
If you don’t want to lose button access to a voice assistant like Gemini, here’s how to power your phone off the default way. Swipe down on the right corner from the top of the phone to see the quick settings menu, then press the power button (the middle circular icon at the top right). That’ll take you to the power options to restart or power off the device.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Max Out the Screen Resolution
You just paid hundreds of dollars for a high-end phone, and out of the box, it only has a 1080p (Full HD) screen resolution. Really? Max it out! Upgrade to Quad High Definition+ (QHD+) by heading to Settings > Display > Screen resolution. Just know that this depends on your Samsung phone model (not all support a high resolution), and, yes, this will use up more battery. It’s still worth giving it a shot for a day to see whether you can tell the difference and whether it has much impact on your battery life.
I’d also recommend going into the Display settings and playing around with Screen zoom. I prefer going to the lowest zoom so I can fit more content on the screen, but this makes text smaller, so you might want to increase it if the screen is hard to read. You can change the font size if you head back to the Display settings page.
Fix Notifications on the Lock Screen
Samsung has drastically changed how the lock screen looks in One UI 7. By default, your notifications appear as icons on the top left corner, but a simple swipe down anywhere will bring your notification cards into view. There’s also now a permanent Now Bar sitting at the bottom to show relevant information (more on this below).
If you prefer to have all your notifications showing on the lock screen all the time, go to Settings > Notifications > Lock screen notifications and tap on Cards. You can then combine this with the Show content or Hide content toggle below if you want to show or hide the details of the notification. I also recommend toggling on Show alerting notifications only. This ensures that “silent notifications,” like those from your weather app, do not take up space on the lock screen.
There are a few more handy settings that aren’t enabled by default, which you can enjoy by tapping on Advanced settings in the Notifications hub. Here you can filter and sort notifications and turn on Notification history—handy for the times you accidentally swipe a notification away before you read its contents. I also like using the snooze function to remind myself about notifications later in the day, and you can tap Show snooze button to turn this on. (You’ll see a little bell icon on the bottom right corner of your notifications; press that to snooze them.)
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Change How Notifications Appear
When a new notification arrives on your Galaxy phone, it appears as a tiny banner and can be annoying to read and access. I prefer switching it to a more detailed, larger banner notification like on most Android phones. To do this, head to Notifications > Notification pop-up style and choose Detailed.
Disable Now Brief in the Now Bar
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 phones debuted Now Brief—an AI-powered app that shows helpful information throughout your day, though I’ve yet to find it useful. It mostly has turned into another weather app. It shows up on the lock screen as a permanent widget toward the bottom, part of what Samsung calls the Now Bar, allowing you to hop into your daily brief quickly. It’s a nice-looking widget, but since I don’t find it helpful, it’s taking up valuable real estate.
To hide the Now Bar from the lock screen, go to Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Now bar and toggle off Now brief. This doesn’t disable certain live activities from showing up on the lock screen, like Google Maps navigation or when you’re recording with the Voice Recorder app.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Keep the Always-On Display … Always On
The Always-On Display is there to let you quickly see the time or any pending notifications when you glance at your phone, but by default this feature is set to Tap to show, meaning you need to tap the screen to see the Always-On Display. Bizarre. To fix this, go to Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Always-on Display and choose Always under When to show. This does drain some battery life, but it’s marginal. Go back to the Always-On Display settings page and toggle off Show Lock screen wallpaper, as this will drain battery life faster.
Alternatively, you can set the Always-On Display on Auto. This new mode understands when you may not want the display turned on, like if it’s face down or you’re sleeping and the phone hasn’t moved for 5 minutes. To customize the clock design on the lock screen and add widgets, tap and hold on the lock screen to edit it.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Wake the Phone When You Lift It
You can wake your Samsung Galaxy phone when you lift it instead of requiring a tap on the screen. You can also double-tap the home or lock screen to wake the display and double-tap it again to turn it off. What about if you read a web page and the screen times out and turns off? There’s a fix for that too. Go to Settings > Advanced features > Motions and gestures and toggle on Lift to wake, Double tap to turn on screen, and Double tap to turn off screen.
Also, head to Settings > Display > Screen timeout and toggle on Keep screen on while viewing. Now the screen won’t turn off as long as you’re staring at it head-on.
Disable the Samsung Wallet Swipe Up
If you turn on gesture navigation, you’ll immediately realize how annoying it is that Samsung Wallet, by default, comes to life when you swipe from the bottom edge of the screen. Sure, it’s a fast way to access your credit cards, but it’s so easy to accidentally trigger when you just want to see your recent apps. If you use Samsung Wallet, you can turn this off by tapping the three dots on the top right of the Samsung Wallet app. Tap Settings > Quick access > Swipe up gesture and toggle off Lock screen, Home screen, and Screen off.
Don’t use Samsung Wallet at all? Just press and hold the icon in the app drawer and tap Uninstall.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Get Rid of Folders in the App Drawer
Seeing folders in the app drawer annoys me. When I’m quickly searching for an app and I don’t find it in the list, it’s usually because it’s in a folder. One of the first things I do when I set up a new Samsung phone is sort the app drawer alphabetically. To do this, swipe up from the home screen to access the app drawer and tap on the triple-dot icon at the bottom right. Tap Sort and choose Alphabetical order. If you like folders in your app drawer, press and hold an app and drag it on top of another to create one. But if you don’t want them, press and hold any folders in the app drawer and tap Delete folder.
Turn Off the Edge Panel
See that translucent pane on the right edge of your screen? Have you accidentally opened it when you meant to swipe back and go to a previous page or app? Me too. This is called Edge Panel, and it’s a tucked-away panel that lets you get immediate access to a suite of Galaxy AI features, alongside some apps (of your choice). It’s like a persistent dock.
This can be immensely useful, so I encourage you to play around with it first. Pull it open, tap the pencil icon at the bottom to customize it, and choose the apps you want. To disable the Galaxy AI features baked in by default, tap the triple-dot menu at the top right and toggle off the relevant apps, like AI Select, Now Brief, and Drawing Assist.
You can also go to Settings > Display > Edge panels > Panels to add different kinds, like a weather panel, a reminders panel, or a clipboard panel. Tap Handle in the Edge Panels settings page to tweak the panel’s position and change the transparency, size, colors, and the like to make it harder to accidentally open. If you want to turn Edge Panel off, head to Settings > Display and toggle off Edge panels.
Revert the Notification Drawer Back to Normal
The notification drawer acts differently in One UI 7. A swipe down on the home screen takes you to your notifications specifically, but to access the quick settings tiles, you will need to swipe down at the top right corner of the screen (you can customize this for the left side of the screen)—not unlike how iPhone owners access the Control Center on iOS. I don’t mind this new behavior, but it took some getting used to. If you prefer the old system, where a single swipe brought down the notifications and some quick settings halfway, and a second swipe extended it further, don’t worry, there’s a way to revert it.
Swipe down the top right corner of the home screen and tap the pencil icon next to the power icon. Tap on Panel Settings and choose Together to view notifications and the quick settings panel simultaneously. Here you can also tap Edit top quick settings to adjust the main tiles you see when you first swipe down.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Reorder Quick Settings Tiles
Whichever way you set up the notification drawer and quick settings panel, I encourage you to customize the order of the quick settings tiles to make the most out of them. Swipe down the top right corner of the home screen and tap the pencil icon next to the power icon. Here, you can edit the entire layout of the quick settings panel—even move the location of the brightness slider. Tap Edit on the quick settings tile to remove tiles you don’t care for and add others you may want. Press Done to save your work.
Turn on the Color Palette
Want to match your phone’s system theme with your wallpaper? Press and hold anywhere on the home screen until you see the home screen settings menu, then tap on Wallpaper and style. Tap Color palette and toggle it on. You can choose from a set of colors it pulls from your wallpaper or a set of basic colors. Toggle on Apply palette to app icons for a more cohesive look, though this works only if an app supports the feature (most first-party apps do).
Expand Your Grids
Need more space on your home screen? You can tweak the grid layout to add more rows and columns so you can fit apps on the screen. Press and hold anywhere on the home screen to see the Home Screen settings menu. Tap Settings > Home screen grid and play around with the different grid sizes to see what works. I prefer the 5×5 layout. You can do the same for the app drawer and even your folders by going to the App screen grid and Folders grid. I prefer 5×5 and 4×4 for those, respectively.
Turn on Battery Protection
If you intend to hold on to your smartphone for several years (as you should), you’ll want to protect the battery at all costs. Try to keep your phone between 20 and 80 percent charged, as depleting it completely or keeping it topped up all the time can decrease the battery’s efficiency over time. Samsung has a feature that can help with this—head to Settings > Battery and toggle on Battery protection. You can choose between Basic, Adaptive, or Maximum.
For the latter, it will limit the maximum charge to 80 percent, thereby extending the life of your phone. This does mean permanently losing 20 percent per day, but try it out for a few days to see how severely it affects your use. The Adaptive option puts your phone on the Maximum setting when you’re sleeping and charging, and switches to Basic when you wake up, getting you closer to 100 percent. You can find tips on how to save smartphone battery life here.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Turn on Dolby Atmos Sound
Samsung brags about how its phones support Dolby Atmos for richer-sounding audio, but this feature is off by default. To turn it on, head to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Sound quality and effects. Toggle on Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos for gaming. I usually set the former on Auto, and there’s a slightly noticeable difference in audio quality with it turned on—music sounds a little louder and more robust. You’ll find other sound settings you can play around with here like Boost dialogue and Loudness normalization.
Enable (or Disable) Samsung’s Galaxy AI
Only available on newer Samsung devices, Galaxy AI is the catch-all name for new smart features largely powered by Google’s large language models. You can look at all of them at Settings > Galaxy AI. There’s Call Assist, which offers real-time language translation over phone calls; Transcript Assist, which transcribes voice recordings into text and summarizes them; and Drawing Assist, which lets you turn sketches into AI-generated images. You can run through each of these features and toggle off the ones you don’t want.
You can also make sure all your data is processed on-device for extra security instead of being sent off into the cloud—toggle on Process data only on device for this. It’s worth noting that the performance of some of these features may suffer and some may not work entirely.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Get Rid of Bloatware
Years ago, Samsung didn’t let you uninstall a lot of bloatware—apps that were redundant or that you never wanted to use. Nowadays, you can uninstall most of these apps. Just tap and hold the app in the app drawer or home screen and press Uninstall. This now works with Samsung’s Calendar app, which was previously difficult to get rid of. If you can’t uninstall them, you can at the very least Disable them so they disappear from view.
If you can’t uninstall or disable an app, your next best option is to hide it. Open the app drawer, tap the triple-dot icon at the bottom right, tap Settings, and scroll down to Hide apps on Home and Apps screens. Tap on the app you want to hide, and that’s it!
Enable Link to Windows
Got a Windows PC? You can connect your Samsung phone to make and take calls from your machine, see texts and photos, and even use your phone apps in Windows. On Windows, open the Microsoft Store app and search and install Phone Link. On your Samsung device, head to Settings > Connected devices > Link to Windows. Follow the prompts on the screens to pair the two devices via the QR code. You’ll need to sign in with your Microsoft account.
Switch Your Keyboard
If you’re often frustrated with Samsung’s default keyboard, you’re not alone. I much prefer Gboard, Google’s keyboard app. The good news is that it’s easy to swap keyboards. Once you download the keyboard you want, whether it’s Gboard or some other third-party app, head to Settings > General management > Keyboard list and default and tap Default keyboard. You might need to toggle on your new keyboard in this menu first. Head back to General management and tap on Gboard settings to customize it to your liking.
Screenshots courtesy of Julian Chokkattu
Turn on Extend Unlock
Android has long had a feature that keeps your phone unlocked when you’re connected to another device with Bluetooth (like a car or smartwatch) or if you’re in a specific location, like your home. Don’t turn this on if you feel uncomfortable having your phone unlocked in these scenarios, but if you find it convenient, you can head to Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Extend Unlock to play around with it.
I usually prefer turning on Trusted devices and choosing my smartwatch or car so I don’t need to fuss with a passcode or fingerprint when I’m driving (not that I’m actively using my phone while driving). But I prefer using Extend Unlock’s Trusted places function to disable the lock screen passcode when I’m home.
Add Emergency Contacts
It’s smart to put your emergency contacts on your smartphone. To add people, go to Settings > Safety and emergency > Emergency contacts and add friends and family from your contacts list. Head back to the previous menu and make sure Emergency SOS is toggled on. This lets you press the power key five times to start a 10-second countdown that will dial emergency services. Toggle on Send SOS to emergency contacts to keep them in the loop, and this will take you to Emergency sharing settings.
You can allow the phone to send pictures from the front and rear cameras as well as an audio recording when it sends your location to your emergency contacts. It’ll also add a warning if your Galaxy phone is nearly out of battery.
Create AI-generated Wallpapers
Some newer Samsung devices can create AI-generated wallpapers. If you’re struggling to find a good wallpaper, give it a try. Tap and hold the home screen until you see the home screen settings menu, then tap Wallpaper and style. Tap Change wallpapers and scroll down to Create with AI. Tap Generative and now you can choose one of the genres to get started. From there, tap on the words to change the subject, then press Generate. Swipe through the AI-made wallpapers to find one you like, and apply it to the lock screen or home screen.