5 One UI 7 options that make me cease lacking my iPhone

The

release of One UI 7
has been something however clean for Samsung. After starting to roll out the replace on April 10 within the US, the tech large paused it just a few quick days later to handle a

serious bug.

Now, over every week later, Samsung has lastly resumed the rollout, permitting customers to begin downloading One UI 7 once more on

eligible devices
, starting with the Galaxy S24 collection and the most recent Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip fashions. Extra units, such because the S23 collection, will obtain it quickly.

Whereas the await One UI 7 has been lengthy, the options it has been full of are nicely definitely worth the wait. I have been lucky sufficient to have had the chance to check One UI 7 on the

Galaxy S25+
for a couple of months now, and listed here are 5 of my favourite options that made me not miss my iPhone, and that it is best to check out when you obtain the replace in your Galaxy gadget.

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You now add a countdown widget to your house display/app pages

When you take pleasure in customizing your cellphone display with varied widgets, you may love the brand new widget choices Samsung has launched with One UI 7. For starters, Samsung has added three new widget dimension choices for its default apps, equivalent to Calendar, Clock, Climate, and extra, permitting you to regulate their dimension to your desire. When you place the widget, you may drag its corners to resize it.

One other new widget characteristic is the choice to customise its form, which implies your widgets not need to resemble rounded rectangles and squares; you may add a little bit of aptitude if you want. Merely faucet the widget, choose settings, and you will see all of the totally different form choices accessible.

My favourite new widget possibility is the countdown characteristic for Calendar, which lets you add an occasion to the Calendar widget that counts all the way down to particular events, equivalent to birthdays, holidays, and particular occasions. For example, I created a countdown widget that tracked the times till the Andor season two premiere.

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4

Now Bar

You view stay actions in your lock display

One of many first new belongings you’ll discover instantly with One UI 7 is the

Now Bar
. It is a new pill-shaped widget on the lock display that shows all of the stay actions taking place in your cellphone. For instance, in the event you’re taking part in a track

on Spotify
, will probably be displayed within the Now Bar, permitting you to pause playback, navigate backward, or ahead in your playlist, all with no need to unlock your cellphone or open the app.

What I like most in regards to the Now Bar is its placement. It is situated proper on the backside of the lock display, making it tremendous straightforward to entry, particularly whenever you’re utilizing your cellphone with one hand. When you faucet on any of the stay actions, you may develop them to see extra choices accessible. It additionally helps Google Sports activities, so in the event you observe any sports activities groups on Google, the scores of their video games might be displayed within the Now Bar. When you’re watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs proper now (go Leafs), this can be a should. A number of the apps that help the Now Bar are Spotify, YouTube Music, Google Maps, Clock, Voice Recorder, Samsung Notes, Stay Interpreter, and Samsung Well being. Extra third-party apps are anticipated to help the Now Bar sooner or later.

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Fast settings and notifications have been separated

With One UI 7, Samsung has adopted a notably Apple-like strategy to the notification middle and fast settings menu, splitting them into two distinct menus. Beforehand, whenever you swiped down from the highest of the display, you would be greeted with fast settings choices and notifications. Now, with One UI 7, whenever you swipe down from the top-left or center of the display, you solely see notifications. Nonetheless, whenever you swipe down from the top-right, you entry the fast settings menu, permitting you to regulate your Wi-Fi settings, activate Airplane mode, activate the flashlight, and extra.

I admire this modification, as I discover myself hardly ever utilizing the choices within the fast settings menu until I am touring or altering my display brightness. Having one display completely devoted to notifications is far more handy, making it really feel extra like iOS 18, which I am accustomed to coming from my iPhone. Samsung has additionally made extra modifications to the fast settings menu, permitting you so as to add extra settings and rearrange the panels on the display.

When you desire the previous type, the place fast settings and notifications are mixed into one display, you may change it again by opening the Fast Settings menu, tapping the pencil icon, deciding on Panel Settings, and selecting the Collectively possibility fairly than Separate.

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2

Lock display customization

You possibly can alter the Clock widget extra freely now

The lock display can also be receiving some love with One UI 7, that includes new customization choices that may make yours much more distinctive and personalised. Now you can add a gallery widget to the lock display, permitting you to show pictures out of your cellphone’s gallery on it. So in order for you an image of your annoying however cute cat in your lock display always, now you can do this. You possibly can even add PNGs to the lock display’s gallery widget, so the photographs might be clear and mix in higher along with your lock display’s background.

My favourite new lock display addition with One UI 7 is the flexibility to maneuver the clock face round much more freely. This characteristic is obtainable in One UI 6, however One UI 7 introduces many extra choices, permitting you to regulate and scale the clock to match your cellphone’s lock display background a lot better. Samsung has additionally added a brand new thickness possibility that allows you to modify the thickness of the clock’s font, together with new animated clock type choices. When you do not forget that countdown widget for the house display I discussed earlier, you can too add it to the lock display for any occasions you are excited for.

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1

House display upgrades

New app icons and sizes

With One UI 7, Samsung has up to date all its default app icons with recent appearances that make them stand out and look extra trendy general. However that is not all Samsung has accomplished with app icons. When you go to the Settings app and choose House display, now you can change the dimensions of all of your app icons. You possibly can select between small, medium, and huge icons, with the default setting set to medium.

Two different new settings have been added to additional customise the house display: the flexibility to show off app labels and widget labels. Which means in the event you not wish to see the names of apps below their icons, you may disable them. The result’s a super-clean, minimalistic search for all of your apps on the house display and totally different app pages.

Moreover, now you can enlarge the dimensions of app folders, enabling you to entry apps inside them with no need to open the folders themselves. That is game-changing and one thing I hope Apple adopts for iOS sooner or later. The App Drawer has additionally undergone some modifications, with Samsung relocating the search bar from the highest of the display to the underside for higher usability. Additional, it is now attainable to view apps within the App Drawer vertically as an alternative of horizontally by adjusting the kind choice to Alphabetical.

There are a few different honorable mentions I wish to give for

other new One UI 7 features,
together with the redesigned digital camera app and new battery safety modes.

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