‘Now Bar’ Is Samsung’s Take on Live Events on IOS
The grand unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S25 was also the first time anyone was able to get a close look at One UI 7, Samsung’s version of Android 15 – now available on Galaxy S25 phones and coming to older models in the future. months. Among the many new features that the software update brings, one of the most useful is the Now panel.
The Now panel works a bit like Live Actions featured on the iPhone’s dynamic island that was introduced in iOS 16. It builds on the existing persistent notifications feature that Android already has—those notifications that stick to the screen if you’re playing music. , for example, or if you are using a timer.
The Now bar serves the same purpose: It appears at the bottom of the lock screen so you can stay up to date with relevant information from your apps. Various panels can be displayed, including the workouts you’re tracking in Samsung Health, the routes you’re following in Google Maps, and the playlists you’re listening to in Spotify.
The Now panel is located at the bottom of the screen, while iOS Live Actions appear at the top; Another difference is that the Now panel is not visible when the phone is unlocked. If you’re using your Galaxy phone and it’s unlocked, the information in the Now panel will appear as it does now: as a persistent notification that you can access by swiping down from the top of the screen.
With both the Now panel and interactive actions, you can tap a live notification to increase its size and some interactive controls (like starting and stopping timers)—on the iPhone, the dynamic island grows and shrinks as needed. There is no Dynamic Island on One UI 7 and Galaxy phones (at least not yet).
“By offering instant access to important notifications, Now Bar reduces the need to constantly unlock the device and allows users to easily interact with key information,” says Samsung . “Bar will now redesign the lock screen experience, which will evolve with smarter capabilities in the future.”
Supported Applications and Settings
Now Bar integration depends, of course, on developer support. There doesn’t seem to be a complete official list of apps that support the Now Bar, but based on user reports , we know that Google Maps and Spotify are two third-party apps that now work with the feature. There will no doubt be support for more apps in the future, at least in apps where the Now bar makes sense (like Uber).
Samsung has already prepared several of its One UI 7 apps to work with the Now panel, including Bixby, Clock, Emergency Sharing, Interpreter, Samsung Health, Samsung Notes and Voice Recorder. For many others, like the photo gallery app and web browser, you don’t really need constant updates on your lock screen. Samsung also showed off Google’s sports scores displayed in the Now panel.
You can also have multiple Now Bars running at once, in case you’re playing music, going for a run, or starting a timer. They will stack on top of each other and you can switch between them by swiping up. Samsung’s promotional videos also show smart AI alerts—for example, telling you when to go to a meeting—that appear in the Now panel interface.
You can see some of the existing Now Bar integrations in this promotional video from Samsung. For example, start a run in the Samsung Health app, lock your phone, and you’ll see the current time and distance at the bottom of the lock screen. Tap the Now panel to enlarge the widget and get controls for stopping tracking.
Other applications work in a similar way. With Voice Recorder, you can start recording directly from the app, then switch to the Now panel on the lock screen. There you’ll find a timer showing how long the recording lasts, as well as controls to pause the recording and stop it completely.
If you have access to One UI 7, you can customize the Now panel by going to Settings, then tapping Lock Screen and AOD > Now Panel . On the next screen, you can choose which apps can deliver live notifications to the Now panel, and also choose whether you want daily briefings to be delivered to the Now panel as well.