In Praise of Samsung One UI 7 (Premium)

I'm critical of the superfluous apps and services duplication and other clutter that Samsung brings to its Android devices because it's terrible and an obvious example of enshittification that puts the company's strategic needs ahead of providing customers with the best possible user experience. But like most things in life, there's a more nuanced story here, too, and some of the additions that Samsung makes to Android are thoughtful and useful.

Whether the pros outweigh the cons is up to the individual--our needs all vary--but I would like to highlight some key things that Samsung gets right with One UI 7, the latest version of the highly customized user interface that it puts on Android 15. This is the system that Samsung bundles with its latest Galaxy S25 products, like the Galaxy S25+ I've been using for about a week. And it's rolling out now to supported previous-generation Galaxy devices, too. For example, my wife got this upgrade on her Galaxy S24 Ultra a few weeks ago.

Pinning down where Android ends and One UI begins is sometimes difficult. Many refer to One UI as a "skin" on top of Android, while Samsung describes it as "innovative software" that's unique to its devices and "powers your smartphone and tablet in addition to the Android operating system" and is "integral to the Samsung Galaxy experience." From what I can tell, it's no different from the highly customized Android that Google ships on its Pixel devices. There's a lot extra in there, all of which builds on top of a stock Android that almost none of us ever experience, usually--maybe, hopefully--for the better.

One UI 7 introduces what Samsung calls a "comprehensive redesign" with a "fresh aesthetic" and intelligent features that adapt to how you use your device." It's refined, more intuitive, and provides advanced AI integration. According to Samsung, key new features include the Now Bar, (more) Google Gemini advances, AI Select (which brings multiple AI features like Writing Assist, Auto Trim, Photo enhancements, Drawing Assist, and so on to the apps where they are needed), and various Settings improvements.

And, yes, these things are all present. But I feel like Samsung is downplaying a few features that I find to be more useful than anything listed above. And based on what I know about the work Google is doing with Android 16, the next version of this OS that we believe it will formally finalize next week at its Android Show: I/O Edition Livestream in two days, it's clear that Google is working hand-in-hand with its biggest partner on some new platform features. I noted some of this in a recent story about hidden new features in Android 16. But there's more.

Here, I'll focus on the most obvious--and most welcome--of these features, called Live notifications. Like much of what Samsung does, this feature was, ahem, inspired by an iOS feature I love called Dynamic Island. And in keeping with the commentary above about the Google/Samsung partnership, this...