Seeing Samsung’s silence and lack of affirmation for the stable One UI 7 rollout on older Galaxy phones is unsettling. It almost makes me slightly envious of Samsung Galaxy S25 owners for getting a hold of this update much earlier than everyone else. But this is not unexpected, as this is how it has always been for Samsung’s newest flagships. What bothers me is the massive delays between updates. In retrospect, One UI 6.1 came out over a year ago (January 17, 2024, for the Galaxy S24 series), which arrived in late March for the S23 series.
One UI 7 has already experienced a delay in its release schedule, making the wait feel even longer if you own an older device. There are One UI 7 and Android 15 features that I wish I could use, but unfortunately, I can’t, and it might not come until late Q2 (if all goes right). So, as a result, I’ve devised a list of my most anticipated One UI 7 features that I can’t wait to experience.
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7
Separated Notification and Quick Settings menu
It keeps everything in one neat pile
Managing notifications is stressful, and I am sorely reminded how much I let my notifications pile up whenever I access the Quick Settings menu. One of the One UI 7 features I am excited about is separating my Quick Settings menu from my Notifications. In truth, accessing my Quick Settings menu stresses me out, and that’s tied to how cluttered it is. One UI 7 changes the UI for both menus (the number of Quick Settings toggles increases from 20 to 24) while keeping them separate. It’s a change I wanted for a while, and sadly, it can’t come soon enough.
One UI 7 also offers notification filters (found in the settings) by nesting old notifications under a new More notifications category in the Notifications menu.
It gives your phone a cleaner look
I detest how the default Weather widget looks on my Galaxy S23. No matter which wallpaper I select, it always seems misplaced (and is slightly oversized). The same goes for my other widgets. Thankfully, Samsung has a solution for this in the upcoming One UI 7 update. The One UI 7 brings more customizable options for your widgets. You can change the widget shape, sizing, transparency (and blur), and background. These are the style choices I have been waiting for, which gets me excited to start adding widgets again.
5
More adaptive charging options
It brings more customization to charging
This year, I’ve been focusing on improving my charging habits. Battery drain has always been my number one concern. My Galaxy S23 suffered from periods of unexpected battery drain compared to last year. It’s a relatively new phone, so I don’t expect the battery issue to be because of age. My charging habits have been poor; I’ve left my phone dead for extended periods and on charge when it was over 100%. In late 2024, I decided it was time to put more effort into charging my habits, starting with my Galaxy S23.
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Admittedly, using the battery protection options hasn’t been easy. Setting it to Maximum means your phone stops charging after reaching 80%. Adaptive charging uses basic (it stops charging after 100% until the phone drops to 95%) and maximum dependent works based on detected sleep/wake time. Using the maximum option would be ideal, but it’s not always convenient.
Sometimes, 80% is just not enough, especially with all the new apps that drain the battery. One UI 7 solves this by letting you choose the new maximum, so if 85% or 90% is your sweet spot, you can pick that instead of the standard 80%. I prefer keeping my phone charged in the high 80s, so the 85/90 limit helps.
4
AI-powered Gallery Search
A smarter way to search through Samsung Gallery
Source: Samsung
I don’t want to count my chickens before they are hatched since rumors imply that the AI-powered Gallery Search might not make it to the S24 and S23 series. So if this feature never comes, then I’ll be disappointed. However, if it does come, then this could be quite helpful. The AI-powered Gallery Search makes finding photos in the Samsung Gallery app much more manageable by finding matching keywords. Though it may not be as robust as Ask Photos, it does work similarly.
The enhanced search engine supports natural language queries to help find relevant photos. You can find information like “Your 2024 birthday cake,” which could pull up pictures of birthday cakes in 2024. It’s a neat trick and something I could desperately use (I have over 5000 pictures without albums, and the number keeps growing).
3
App Archiving suggestions
A quick way to save on storage space
One great Android 15 feature that is slightly underrated is app archiving. The App Archiving feature helps you save on storage space by archiving unused apps (which temporarily removes apps). That includes permissions, temporary files, and notifications (note that user and app data stays compressed). It completely avoids the need to re-install the app to use it again.
Samsung is bringing over app archiving in One UI 7. But it also brings over a suggestions feature. You can receive archive suggestions if you haven’t opened apps in the last 30 days. The second part of this feature can work twofold: it gives you a good place to start archiving, but it also shows you which apps are wastefully staying on your phone. As someone who downloads so many apps and keeps them hidden in folders, I would gladly accept some guidance (HoYoverse apps take up a ridiculous amount of storage so I am always in need of space).
2
Added AI Privacy
More options for protecting your data
We are now at an age where AI and AI tools have become the norm. That also means AI has become a looming concern for privacy, especially when we feed it large amounts of data that can be personal. But to get around this, Samsung has made AI more optional; you do not need to interact with Galaxy AI unless you want to.
However, there might be a point where interacting with AI becomes strongly encouraged. The trend shows more AI features and apps/other features that depend on AI. Even if we can’t stop the trend, we should still have some protection. According to Samsung, One UI 7 aims to address this, but it will also feature “additional AI capabilities including enhanced, hardware-dependent on-device AI functions.”
“One UI 7 is the next step in Samsung’s commitment to privacy on AI, introducing advanced security features to ensure complete protection in the era of AI.”
We already know of one option that helps with privacy. In One UI 7, we can toggle on Process data only on device under the Galaxy AI settings. Basically, this prevents AI from storing and processing your data in the cloud and limits that to be done on your device only. The only caveat is that some features, like summarization and sketch-to-image functions, heavily rely on online processing. So, turning that off will negatively impact those features. But if you don’t use those features, this option becomes a great option for privacy.
1
Now Bar
It adds live information on the lock screen
The new One UI 7 Now Bar is nothing to sneeze at. It is also my most anticipated feature. I should be able to glance at my phone and know what’s happening around me without opening apps. That’s where the Now Bar comes in. Our Phone’s Editor describes the Now Bar as “Samsung’s take on Apple’s Live Activities (and, on a lesser scale, the Dynamic Island).” You can receive Sports scores, Google Maps directions, review timers, tracked workouts, and music playlists, all at the bottom of your lock screen.
Moreover, if you don’t like what you see in your Now Bar, you can customize everything in your settings. The best part is that this feature is also out of the way and disappears after unlocking your phone. I’m excited about not having to open my phone to check every little detail.
Don’t underestimate One UI 7
The update doesn’t bring many bells and whistles for Samsung users, but at least it seems more targeted. I’m looking forward to features like Process data only on device for added AI privacy and adapting Android 15’s App Archiving. Still, even if these features look promising, we still desire more. We wish Samsung would address omissions and bring in more features, but it doesn’t seem to be in the cards yet, so waiting is all we can do for now.
