10 default Samsung Galaxy settings you should change

Whether you love or hate Samsung phones, you can’t deny that they have a lot of settings. For the most part, you don’t have to change a lot of them to improve your experience, but there are a few things you’ll want to pay more attention to.

Disable Bixby from the power button

Let’s kick things off with the most annoying part of Samsung Galaxy phones: Bixby. Not many people like Samsung’s virtual assistant, however, the company associates it with the power button by default.

If you are not using Bixby, you should have the power button back. You can restore the original function of the power button, which is to show the “Shutdown” and “Restart” options. At least Samsung gives us the option.

Related: How to disable Bixby on Samsung Galaxy S22

Show battery percentage in status bar

By default, the battery percentage is indicated by how full the battery icon is in the status bar. You can keep a close eye on it by showing the exact percentage in numbers. It’s a simple matter to switch, and you’ll be able to know exactly when your phone needs some extra juice.

Related: How to show battery percentage on Android

Change the system color palette

Google introduced a new way to customize your phone with Android 12. The Samsung app is different from the Google app, but it still allows you to change the system theme based on your wallpaper.

The Color Palette applies to quick settings buttons, the background color in the notification shade, as well as colors in system apps and in some third-party apps. It’s a more subtle way to change the look without a complete look.

Related: How to change the color palette on Samsung Galaxy phones

Customize lock screen shortcuts

By default, Samsung places phone and camera shortcuts on the lock screen. You can swipe left or right on the shortcuts to quickly launch apps without unlocking the phone. These shortcuts can actually be any application you want.

Related: How to customize Samsung Galaxy lock screen shortcuts

Switch to gesture navigation

Mobile operating systems have moved to gesture-based navigation. One UI is no different on Galaxy phones, but Samsung still uses the old three-button navigation style by default.

Look, if you really despise gestures, great, but they’re not going away. They should at least give gesture navigation a shot. It gives you more screen real estate and works well once you get the hang of it.

Related: How to change navigation buttons or gestures on Android

Mute calls by turning your phone over

Unfortunately, the days of hanging up your phone to end the call are over. However, you can still achieve a similar effect with a feature that lets you flip your phone over to mute incoming calls.

This feature doesn’t cut you off during a phone call, but it does make it easier to ignore calls. You can turn the phone over or put your hand on top of the screen to stop the ringer.

Related: How to mute calls by turning over an Android phone

Customize the lock screen clock

Let’s go back to the lock screen. By default, Samsung uses a very simple digital clock with white or black text. You can customize this clock with some different styles and color options. It’s a simple way to freshen up the look of your lock screen, which you’ll probably see many times throughout the day.

Related: How to customize the clock on the Android lock screen

Get rid of duplicate apps

Samsung includes several of its own apps that replicate similar apps pre-installed by Google as well. Getting dual notifications from Samsung and Google Calendar – for example – is very annoying.

Unfortunately, some default Samsung apps — like Calendar — can’t be completely removed. If you can’t uninstall or disable apps, there are ways you can basically uninstall them without actually removing them.

Related: How to get rid of Samsung Calendar on Galaxy phones

Undo typing with a gesture

The default Samsung keyboard on Galaxy phones includes an Undo feature which is not enabled by default. In this context, Undo will remove the last few words you typed, not individual letters. All you have to do is swipe across the keyboard with two fingers. The only downside is that you cannot use swipe typing if you enable this feature.

Related: How to undo typing on a Samsung Galaxy phone

Stop killing apps in the background

One of the most frustrating things about Samsung Galaxy phones is their aggressive killing of background apps. This is done to save battery life, but it sometimes leads to missed notifications and misbehaving apps.

There are a couple of settings you’ll want to look at to make sure apps are running properly in the background. You can also give individual apps permission to always run to ensure you don’t miss any notifications from them.

Related: How to prevent Android from killing background apps

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Samsung’s “everything but the sink” approach means there are plenty of options at your fingertips. We hope you can get your Samsung Galaxy to work exactly the way you want it to.