The Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+, and Galaxy S23 Ultra are among the older Samsung phones that are presently in beta testing for the latest firmware and will receive the stable One UI 7 update at some point in the near future.
As far as One UI 7 is concerned, it is one of the more ambitious updates in Samsung's recent history. You've probably heard this before, but it doesn't make it any less true. One UI 7 will change and hopefully improve your Galaxy S23 experience in several ways.
From what we've seen in the beta program, the Galaxy S23 running One UI 7 beta performs well, but not every feature available on the Galaxy S25 series has made its way through.
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Thankfully, most of what makes One UI 7 a great new update is there. After careful consideration, here are our top picks for the three main One UI 7 features that we believe will improve your Galaxy S23.
NOTE: We picked these features based on our experience with the One UI 7 beta firmware for the Galaxy S23. The feature set could change for the stable release. One example is Now Brief, which is not available in beta for the Galaxy S23 but could be made available later. Time will tell.
#1 More options for the app drawer and panels
Aside from the home screen, it's probably safe to assume that the most used areas of your Galaxy phone's UI are the app drawer, the notification panel, and the quick panel. These primary UI elements have seen massive changes in One UI 7.
- The app drawer now supports a vertical layout (comes as default) and the old horizontal layout.
- The search bar in the app drawer is now at the bottom of the screen for easier one-hand reachability.
- The notification and quick panels have been redesigned and are now separate. They can be accessed by swiping down from the left or right side of the top bar.
These One UI 7 design features will change how you interact with your Galaxy S23 daily. We like them and believe they improve the user experience, but we realize not everyone might share this view.
Thankfully, even though these changes are turned on by default, Galaxy S23 users will have the option to go back to a more traditional pre-One UI 7 layout for the app drawer (except for the position of the search bar) as well as the notification and quick panels.
#2 A redesigned Camera app UI
One other big change introduced by One UI 7 is a redesigned interface for the Camera app.
In One UI 6.1.1, the Camera app UI spreads its features and settings around the top and bottom sides of the screen — or the left and right sides in landscape orientation.
With One UI 7, Galaxy S23 users will have easier access to Camera controls. Samsung brought many more Camera options to the lower side of the screen, once again improving accessibility and one-hand usability.
You may have to relearn some things once you install One UI 7 on your Galaxy S23, but it will be worth it.
#3 The Now Bar adds a new layer of control
The Now Bar is one of the staples of One UI 7. It's among the first new UI elements that will greet you on your Galaxy S23's AOD or lock screen.
In One UI 7, the Now Bar acts as a dynamic interactive control panel whose function changes based on the apps you are running on your Galaxy S23. Its purpose is to make certain notifications and ongoing activities more visible. And like the other UI elements mentioned above, the Now Bar has the potential to change how you control your device.
In the beta firmware for the Galaxy S23, the Now Bar supports the Media player, Maps, Samsung Health, Interpreter, Samsung Notes, Voice Recorder, and Emergency sharing. Support for additional apps and services could be added to the Now Bar before the stable One UI 7 build lands on the Galaxy S23. Either way, it's a neat feature that we think Galaxy S23 users will enjoy.
For a quick look at how all of these One UI 7 features work on the Galaxy S23, check out our beta overview video below.
