Samsung's One UI 7 Update Both Improves And Absolutely Ruins Lock Screen Notifications

Notifications are a key part of any device, and they can really make or break an experience. With its One UI 7 update that debuted on the Galaxy S25 Ultra this week, Samsung has decided to adjust lock screen notifications in a way that makes them effectively useless.

Android has, for years, shown notifications on the lock screen with full-size notifications that appear in the center of the screen and can be easily interacted with. iOS works similarly, even if Apple’s take on notifications is generally considered inferior to Android’s. But that’s not what Samsung generally does. Rather, Samsung has long just showed a group of icons under the clock to show that you have notifications, but only shows those notifications when you tap on the icons.

With One UI 7, Samsung is trying something new with notifications, but it’s a functional step below both Android’s default and Apple’s implementations by default.

By default in One UI 7, Samsung sets lock screen notifications to “icons” only. The full-size notifications are hidden, with the only indication of any notifications being in the top corner where tiny icons are shown. We noticed this on our Galaxy S25 Ultra review unit which was restored from a Galaxy Z Fold 6 that had standard lock screen notifications (pictured here). Will Sattelberg of Android Police noted the same behavior on his device which was set up from scratch, and we also confirmed this happens on the Galaxy S24 Ultra when it’s running the One UI 7 beta.

The good news here is that “cards” actually allows Samsung users to see their notifications as they can on any other Android phone. The bad news is that the default setting is significantly worse than Samsung’s previous choice, as it’s harder to see.

Changing this isn’t too difficult, but it’s not something that users will easily find. Under Settings > Notifications > Lock screen notifications you can change the “icons” setting to “cards” to restore the standard design of lock screen notifications. This can’t be changed from the lock screen itself, nor the “Lock screen and AOD” section of the Settings menu.

The reasoning for this is unclear, but may have something to do with Samsung’s new lock screen features such as the “Now Bar” or the refreshed customization options such as better widgets. In any case, it’s a jarring change that directly leads to missing notifications, as we quickly experienced upon starting to use the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Since this applies to updates, it’s sure to be an annoying change for users when One UI 7 starts rolling out to older devices.

The Galaxy S25 series is now available for pre-order from Samsung.com, with up to $1,200 in savings, plus an additional $50 off when you click on our links and order within 30 minutes.