Samsung's powerful Finder tool has changed in One UI 9

The One UI 8.5 update introduced the powerful Home Finder feature to the home screen. Months later, Samsung revised its original implementation.

The Galaxy Z Flip 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra shipped with One UI 9 (Android 17) and a refreshed Finder tool that arguably enables easier access.

In One UI 8.5 on the Galaxy S26, you can turn Finder on or off from the home screen settings menu by toggling “Show Finder on Home screen” ON or OFF.

The structure is very similar in One UI 9, except Samsung has now grouped Finder and Google Search under the same menu.

To turn Finder ON/OFF in One UI 9:

You can choose to hide or show Samsung's Finder bar and Google's search bar, and yes, you can enable one or both at the same time.

Why have both? Well, they are similar in that both fields help you find stuff, but they also serve different purposes.

Google Search is essentially a shortcut to the internet, more specifically the Google search engine. If you want to look something up online, you can do it faster through the Search field on your One UI 9 home screen.

Finder, on the other hand, is made by Samsung for One UI, and it's designed to help you find settings, apps, contacts, files on your device, and even Samsung Calendar entries.

While Samsung says the Finder tool on the home screen is a One UI 8.5 feature designed for the Galaxy S26 series and newer devices, it's available only on select devices before One UI 9.

However, we expect Samsung to make it more widely available once the One UI 9 update starts rolling out to eligible Galaxy smartphones and tablets.