Samsung has finally commenced the rollout of One UI 8 for its smartphones, starting with the Galaxy S25 series devices. In the coming weeks, the Android 16-based software experience will also make its way to the Galaxy S24 line-up and last year’s foldables in the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip families.
I’ve been pushing the One UI 8 experience on my Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a while now, and so far, the experience has been fairly smooth. It’s one of those updates that don’t deliver on a flashy UI design makeover, but focus more on meaningful features to improve the user experience.
If you have already received the update, or are waiting eagerly for it on your eligible Galaxy smartphone, the following are a few tweaks that I highly recommend you play with.
Jazz things up with Dynamic Wallpapers
This one’s a pretty little design change that I initially missed. When you launch the wallpaper and style dashboard, and dig deeper to explore the wallpaper section, Samsung has a little surprise waiting for you. In the featured section, as you scroll down, there’s a new Dynamic category.
There are a total of four gradient-style live wallpapers with different colors, each signifying one of the four broad daytime phases, viz., morning, noon, evening, and night. And here’s the cool part. These wallpapers subtly change their colors as the day progresses.
Moreover, when you unlock the phone, the color gradient goes from its default resting shades to a lighter or darker tone matching the time of the day. It’s lovely to watch it unfold within a matter of seconds.
And while at it, I suggest that you pick a bold font and set it to “A” (auto) color so that the accent of the clock widget also keeps evolving throughout the day. Finally, pick a bold text style with rounded corners and let it expand from edge to edge. Thank me later for the styling tip!
Take your phone’s safety to the next level
With the arrival of Android 16, Google introduced a new safety system called Advanced Protection. Think of it as a one-stop shop for securing your phone from all kinds of risks and threats. Samsung, thankfully, shipped the whole package with One UI 8, and it can be enabled by following this path:
Settings > Google > Personal & device safety > Advanced Protection > Device protection.
When you enable this feature, a host of safeguards kicks into action. First, your browsing activity, apps, call logs, and messages are pushed to a secure environment. Second, the phone will follow a protocol where it locks itself after 72 hours of inactivity.
It also sets the USB port to charging-only mode, malware detection from Google Play is activated, and theft detection is also enabled. While web browsing, Chrome will also watch out for suspicious download packages and site malware.
Moreover, real-time spam detection is also pushed in the Messages app. For extra network-level safety, 2G cellular signals are blocked, and so are unsecured Wi-Fi signals. In a nutshell, it’s the most comprehensive suite of safety guardrails for your Samsung phone, and you should definitely get the best out of it.
Play around with Now Bar
One of the most underrated AI-driven features in One UI 8 is Now Brief and Now Bar, which keeps you up to date with weather, events, and actionable nudges. The latest OS update sprinkles an added dash of personalization to include traffic, reminders, and daily routines, tagging alongside tailored recommendations.
For example, you can get music suggestions based on your listening habits and active subscriptions. And if you have a smartwatch, such as the Galaxy Watch 8, paired with the phone, you will also have wellness-related content appearing in the pill-shaped Now Brief widget.
Accessible from the Galaxy AI dashboard in the Settings app, Now Brief works best when you can access it straight from the lock screen. After all, the whole purpose of this feature is to give you insights and activity reminders in the most convenient way possible.
To do so, open Now Brief in the Settings app and enable the toggle corresponding to the “Expand Now brief without unlocking” option. Right above it sits the “Content to include” page. Open it, and restrict the alerts to only the functions that can add value to your day.
I disabled it for items such as Moments and Gallery Stories, and kept it restricted to important alerts for calendar events, tasks, travel, wearable battery alerts, and smart home. It’s a long list, and pretty varied, so make your pick and customize it to suit your daily routines.
A convenient enhancement to Secure Folder
Secure Folder is essentially a safety box where you can store sensitive files, photos, videos, and apps. It is protected by Samsung’s in-house Knox system, which shields your privacy by encrypting all the data locked within the Secure Folder.
In One UI 8, Samsung is adding another layer of safety and convenience for using Secure Folder. First, you can now add biometrics (read: fingerprint unlock) as a separate biometric authentication protocol for enhanced privacy.
Second, with a single tap on the Secure Folder button in the Quick Panel, you can hide it from the app library. Once you do that, all the apps running in the protected environment are shut down and their notifications are blocked, as well.
When Secure Folder is not hidden, and you tap on the icon in the app library, it will ask for your biometric verification. You can choose to skip it and enter the PIN or password. But I highly recommend that you enable biometrics, as they can’t be stolen or gleaned like a PIN or password.
You can do so by following this path in the Secure Folder app: Settings > Secure Folder lock and biometrics > Fingerprints. Your original device unlock fingerprint will already be listed there, but you can choose to remove it and add a fresh one specifically for the Secure Folder app.
The easy Audio Eraser route
The AI-powered audio eraser feature has been available on Samsung phones since One UI 7, but its availability is locked to only the high-end phones with a powerful chip. With One UI 8, Samsung is making it easier to remove unwanted noise from a video, straight from the playback screen.
When you play a video in the Gallery app, there’s a new waveform/eraser icon that appears right above the sound toggle in the lower-right corner of the screen. When you tap on it, the AI intelligently isolates the noise signals and removes them.
You can, of course, head over to the editing page and play around with the granular Audio Eraser controls that let you focus on specific noises and even fine-tune their intensity to get the desired soundstage. The new one-tap toggle, however, is the most convenient route to get it done in a jiffy.
Whether it’s wind or traffic, this new toggle works pretty well. And here’s the nicest part. Samsung isn’t limiting it to the Gallery app. The company is expanding it to other video and audio-ready apps on your phone, such as the feature-rich Notes and Recorder apps, as well.
