At the Unpacked event that just took place, in addition to launching a series of new devices such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, Samsung also officially announced One UI 8 based on Android 16. Although the interface has not changed much, the new software version still brings valuable tweaks, including improving the Now Bar feature on the lock screen.

Now Bar was first introduced in One UI 7 as a small pill-shaped display bar located right on the lock screen, helping users quickly track ongoing activities such as listening to music, setting a timer, or following sports scores. However, this feature previously only worked with Samsung apps and a few Google apps, making the experience limited.

With One UI 8, Samsung confirmed that Now Bar has started supporting more third-party apps, opening up richer customization and interaction capabilities. While the specific list of compatible apps has not been announced yet, this is clearly a big step forward that will make this feature much more useful in practice.

Previously, One UI 8 beta users discovered a new option called “Live Notifications for all apps” in the Developer Settings section. This shows that Samsung has prepared the foundation to bring this expanded feature to the official update.

The support for more apps for the Now Bar is also a result of the integration of Android 16’s new “Live Updates” API, which allows the system to update app activities in real time right on the lock screen.

Samsung is expected to start rolling out One UI 8 in the near future, with the Galaxy S25 series being the first to receive the update. Other devices will receive upgrade notifications in the following months. We will continue to update readers with detailed information as soon as the official release schedule is available.