Your Samsung phone is getting this free update - four things I love, two I hate

Samsung is finally rolling out its Android 15 software update to phones other than the newest Galaxy S25 devices, which debuted with the latest Android version earlier this year.

Dubbed One UI 7, Samsung’s free upgrade gives a fresh lick of paint to phones including the Galaxy S24, S23, and S22 series, and some Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip phones, which are now receiving Android 15 globally after the rollout was temporarily paused.

I’ve used One UI 7 on the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus, and have also downloaded it onto 2024’s Galaxy S24 Ultra to see how the older phone copes with the software changes. Though it’s mostly good news for Galaxy fans, there are a few tweaks I’m less fond of.

Here are four great new features coming to your Galaxy phone with One UI 7, and two things I would have preferred stayed on the cutting room floor.

It might be stating the obvious - and you might not like it if you hate change - but One UI 7 looks different in places compared to older Samsung software. The notifications are more rounded, the clock on the always-on screen defaults to a new font along with the time in the status bar, and the battery icon is more rounded.

Samsung’s own apps also have newly tweaked app icons. Though updating your Galaxy phone to the new software won’t wipe your homescreen’s layout, it might look a little different to you when your phone reboots thanks to these subtle changes.

I’m all for it.

One of the most infuriating UI decisions Samsung has ever made is to insist the app drawer, the place where all your apps live on Android, must scroll horizontally, as though the drawer was like a home screen.

Android phones usually give you the option to display every app on several home screen pages or use an app drawer, the latter being my preference and a much neater way of hiding away apps you barely use. Most Android phones let you open the app drawer with a swipe up and then continue to scroll vertically, which makes sense and lets you find things quickly.

Samsung has never let you scroll this way, until now. One UI 7 fixes this crime against Android UI, and now all your apps float by with simple up and down scrolls, rather than spreading them out awkwardly across several pages.

One UI 7 brings Samsung’s new Now Bar to older Galaxy phones, and for the most part I find it useful. If you’re playing a song or podcast and your phone is locked, the controls now appear at the bottom of the screen in a small pill-shaped bar rather than a large strip above your notifications.

Tapping it brings up a view of your active apps, or you can scroll through a stack of open apps that can be controlled or are running, for example Spotify, timer, Samsung Health and Voice Recorder.

It’s a minor tweak, and you don’t have to turn it on, but I’ve got used to it and quite like the change. To turn on the Now bar:

Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Now bar > Toggle on the live notification categories

Small adjustments to how the viewfinder looks in the auto mode for the camera has been improved hugely. Samsung rearranged the buttons and controls that make finding and tapping different options easier and much more intuitive. I can easily zoom to several focal lengths, change the resolution, or quickly select a filter.

Changes are reflected quickly, and with either side of your image or video blacked out, you have a true viewfinder that shows you exactly what is being shot.

You might not even notice Samsung has updated the UI here, but it’s a subtle win.

Android phones used to all work the same - drag down from anywhere at the top of the screen to bring down the notification shade, and drag further (or with a second swipe) to see quick settings for things such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, aeroplane mode and brightness slider.

Annoyingly, many Android brands have decided in the past couple of years to copy Apple’s iPhone, where a swipe down from roughly two thirds of the screen to the left brings down the shade, while a swipe down from the right third brings up quick settings.

It’s probably because I’m so used to the old way, but I do not get on with the change. I like that Android combines all these controls into one place, but luckily you can change it back if you find One UI 7 has updated to the new design. To change it back:

Pull down the quick settings shade until you see the pencil icon in the top right. Tap it, then:

Panel settings > Together

If you enjoy all the new Galaxy AI features that One UI 7 brings, then more power to you, but I think they’re a blight on my phone. The Android 15 update has, at least in the case of the S24 Ultra, stuffed the device with even more superfluous artificial intelligence that promises to do things that, frankly, our phones need not do.

Have you always wanted to sketch a cat with your forefinger and then get your phone to turn that into a terrible 3D image of a sort-of cat? Then now you can!

Perhaps I am also sceptical of the AI writing tools as a writer myself, but I don’t need my phone to change the tone of my messages, thanks very much.

Features such as reading webpages aloud are great for accessibility, but is this really AI? My issue lies also with how Samsung is attempting to make Galaxy AI look like it’s giving you a ton of new features for free, when in reality it is rebranding things your phone could already do and clogging it up with features you really don’t need - all in the name of getting you to stare at your phone longer and give Samsung more of your data. No thanks.