Samsung keeps ruining Android notifications, with another feature buried in One UI 6.1

Ben Schoon | Jan 31 2024 - 11:02 am PT

One of the best arguments for using Android over iOS, I personally feel, is how notifications are handled. Organization is better, and there are a lot of helpful features for controlling notifications as well. But, in Samsung’s latest big update, the company has disabled the useful notification categories by default, and it’s not the only feature Samsung has ruined in its take on Android.

Notification “channels” were first introduced to Android back in 2017 as a part of Android 8.0 “Oreo.” The feature allows apps to define categories from which notifications will be delivered, which users can decide to turn off or on through granular settings. When implemented properly, it can be incredibly useful. Just one example of this is Twitter/X, where the app’s implementation of Android notification channels allows users to not only turn off or on notifications from different accounts they’re signed into, but even what kinds of notifications are delivered and how they’re delivered too.

It’s a super useful way to control Android notifications, and has been adopted by lots of apps over the years too.

But, in One UI 6.1, Samsung has started to disable Android notification channels – called “categories” in Samsung’s skin – by default.

This was spotted by the folks over at Android Police, and it’s also in place on our Galaxy S24 Ultra as well. Thankfully, the feature isn’t gone entirely, it’s just buried.

*One UI 6.1 (light mode) vs One UI 6.0 (dark mode) notification settings*

By going back to the main Notifications section, you can go to “Advanced Settings” and flip on “Manage notification categories for each app.” This puts the section that was in place back in One UI 6.0 and prior (as pictured above), back where it belongs.

This isn’t the only big notification feature that Samsung is bizarrely choosing to bury away from users. As we discussed as a part of our newsletter late last year, Samsung and OnePlus both inexplicably bury Android’s super-useful notification history feature. Even in One UI 6.1, the feature is hidden under three layers of the Settings menu, where on Pixel phones, it’s just one tap away from the notification shade.

Given notifications are one of the strongest elements of Android over iOS through features like these, it’s a wild choice for Samsung to choose to hide them from view.