This article lists the best features of Samsung One UI. You can find our full test of One UI 4, the latest version of Samsung’s mobile operating system based on Android 12. If you have an old Samsung smartphone, running on One UI 3 or One UI 3.1, for example, this article still applies, and you can always check if and when your Samsung smartphone will receive the Android 12 update.
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE
To summarize:
How to Rotate the Screen on a Samsung Smartphone
Another trick that will make many people laugh, but not everyone knows how to activate or deactivate automatic screen rotation on Samsung smartphones. Here are the steps to enable the rotation feature, which allows you to rotate your device’s screen:
- Swipe the screen Down and two fingers Bring up the quick settings bar
- Pressportrait icon show screen rotation
- Instead, just press screen rotation Avoid switching to landscape mode when rotating your smartphone
Usually, screen rotation is enabled in quick settings. / © kwgeek
How to unlock a Samsung smartphone without a PIN or password
There’s nothing more frustrating than forgetting your smartphone unlock code. On a Samsung smartphone, you can unlock your Samsung smartphone in several ways without the need for a PIN or password. Below is a summary of our dedicated tutorial:
Unlock Samsung Phone with Find My Phone
- Open Find My Phone in your browser.
- Sign in here with your access data or your Google Account
- click more To the right
- at the bottom are options unlock
- Enter your password again and select unlock
This option should be enabled on all new Samsung phones! / © kwgeek
Factory reset via browser
- Go to the Google Services page to find my device
- Sign in to your Google Account
- Select the device you want to remove
- choose Wipe device data Erase all data from your smartphone, including forgotten lock codes
You can also reset your phone via the browser. / © kwgeek
Smartphone reset without browser
- Turn off your smartphone.
- catch it Press on/off and volume keys enter recovery mode
- use volume rocker. Using the ignition button, select an option
- choose recovery modeThen wipe data / factory reset and confirm again
- Once the process is complete, your smartphone will restart and you can log in with your Google account as usual
You can also reset your smartphone using the keys. / © kwgeek
How to Use the Samsung Galaxy Keyboard as a Trackpad
Typing long text on your smartphone’s keyboard can quickly become a nightmare if you frequently need to reposition the cursor to make corrections. Fortunately, it’s possible to use your smartphone’s keyboard as a trackpad to quickly put the cursor in the right place. My colleague Camila shows you how to use the Samsung Galaxy keyboard as a trackpad in her dedicated tutorial. Follow the steps below to do this on your smartphone:
- Open samsung keyboard
- Press space bar
- wait cursor control symbol appear on the screen
- Move your finger on the keyboard to position the cursor to the desired edit point
Turn a Samsung Galaxy S21 or Galaxy A53 keyboard into a trackpad in the blink of an eye / © kwgeek
How to Customize Always-On-Display on Galaxy Smartphones
Always-On-Display is a really nifty feature that lets you access basic information like the time or some notifications without having to turn on the smartphone screen. One UI 4.0 allows you to really customize the lock screen to display a lot of things. I invite you to read my colleague Carsten’s tutorial on how to customize Always-On-Display on Galaxy smartphones. For the less active among you, here are the steps to follow:
- Enter Galaxy Store Then application (via bottom navigation bar)
- see section theme Then Always show element
- Select the AOD of your choice
- press Application and clock and pictures
In the Galaxy Store you can download many models / © kwgeek
How to Check the Battery Status of a Samsung Smartphone
Over time, the batteries in our smartphones lose capacity and wear out, which can lead to issues like not being able to charge. I wrote a fairly comprehensive tutorial for this, showing you how to check the battery status of your smartphone. Here are the different steps to check the battery status:
- go to set up
- press Battery and Equipment Maintenance
- in the pane diagnosispress show test
- choose battery status and start testing
Samsung’s diagnostic feature checks the health of the battery. / © kwgeek
How to Quickly Create Notes on Galaxy S22 Ultra
Among the many shortcuts for the S Pen on the S22 Ultra is one that lets you automatically create notes as soon as you remove the stylus from the slot. I also wrote a tutorial showing how to create notes faster than Shadow on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Find below the steps to reassign removing the S Pen to automatically create notes:
- Take the S Pen out of the slot
- access menu Air Command (If it doesn’t appear automatically, click the small transparent pen icon on the edge of the screen)
- At the bottom left of the Air Command menu, click the Air Commands icon. set up tooth shape
- inside S Pen Settingsgo to section quit
- under quitpress When removing the S Pen
- choose Create notes
You can also choose not to assign anything to the S Pen pullout, which I recommend if you use the stylus a lot. / © kwgeek
How to Connect a Galaxy Smartphone to a Smart TV
If you want to screen mirror your Samsung Smart TV from your Galaxy smartphone or tablet, you need to use the Smart View feature. This feature allows you to stream content from your smartphone screen to your smart TV. My colleague Rubens wrote a tutorial showing you how to connect your Galaxy smartphone to a smart TV. Here is a summary of the steps:
- open menu Quick Setup (by swiping down from the top of the screen)
- Press the button Smart View
- Wait for a screen to be detected and tap the one you want
- Some TVs may require you to open the pairing menu, see the manual for instructions
- Click to confirm screen casting Start now
How to activate Samsung Smart View on a Galaxy smartphone / © kwgeek
How to Check Screen Time on Samsung Smartphones
Screen time is an important measure of Android’s Digital Wellbeing setup, and Samsung offers a version that’s more customizable than Google’s native solution. My colleague Ben has written a complete guide showing you how to check screen time on your Samsung smartphone. But here is the stripped down version:
- open them set up
- Enter Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls
- press digital well-being
- under my goalpress Detection time
- There, you’ll see screen time from the past few hours, days, and weeks.
Samsung has hidden the Screen Time display a bit. / © kwgeek
You can also activate a widget if you want to keep an eye on your screen time. It allows you to display statistics on the home screen, which are updated regularly. Follow the steps below to activate the widget:
- PressHome
- choose small parts
- Among the suggested selections, you will find an option called Detection time
- Choose one of the designs and add the widget to your home screen
The Screen Time widget is especially handy. / © kwgeek
How to activate Find My Phone if you’ve lost your Samsung
Find My Phone is a life-saving feature if you forget or lose your Samsung smartphone unlock code. Again, my colleague Ben has a tutorial dedicated to activating Find My Mobile on your Samsung, and I’ll let you know if you need more details.
On the Find My Mobile website, you can log in with your Samsung account and access the following features:
- ring your smartphone
- Lock your smartphone
- Track smartphone location
- Clear smartphone data
- Create backup
- Receive calls and texts
- unlock smartphone
- Extend battery life
- Manage parental controls
To activate these features:
- go to settings
- Enter Biometric Data and Security then in find my phone
- activate it Remote unlockThis Send last known location even one Tracking function When the smartphone is turned off
If you still can’t get enough of my dear Ben’s guide, note that he made a guide to help you unlock your Samsung without a PIN or password.
How to customize a UI material You Theme
This feature is reserved for users of One UI 4, as it’s a matter of setting the dynamic theme of Material You pioneered by Android 12. This feature makes it possible to adapt the colors of the interface to the main color palette of the wallpaper.
On compatible Samsung smartphones:
- go to set up Then wallpapers and styles
- press color pallet and choose your favorite color palette
You can also choose to apply this theme to app icons. But 99% of the time, it’s just the icons for Samsung and Google’s native apps…