One UI 8 beta just made the Now Bar a lot more useful — here's how

Tom's Guide

4 days ago

Samsung's One UI 8 beta is here, and it is bringing a host of improvements to some of the best Samsung phones, including some changes to the Now Bar.
There's little doubt that Samsung's Now Bar is a bit lacking in terms of how useful it is, but Samsung has steadily been adding new features, for instance, adding Google Maps support. However, the most recent One UI 8 beta, as revealed by Android Authority, has drastically improved this functionality by having the Now Bar feature live call handling, alongside do-not-disturb schedules.
We'd heard rumors that Samsung was planning to add this feature earlier this month, but we didn't have a clear view of what it would look like. However, Android Authority has shared screenshots of the Now Bar taken on a Galaxy S25 running the latest beta.
The first image shows an outgoing call with the contact's name appearing in the Now Bar, although the call information strangely also appears in the notifications panel. This is likely a quirk of this being from a beta, and the notification pop-up won't appear in the public release. The second image shows the Now Bar displaying that the phone is in Do Not Disturb mode, as well as what time it will revert back.
This isn't the only change that's set to come with One UI 8. For instance, one of the biggest claims Samsung's making for One UI 8 is the introduction of multimodal AI. This AI should, in theory, be more aware of what you're doing on your phone and will be able to offer more personalized and proactive suggestions as a result. Samsung has stated that this will specifically mean that the Now Bar and Now Brief will be able to offer more customized insights into your daily activities.
The One UI 8 beta also features some major improvements to the Secure folder, including a much-needed Kill Switch. The folder will also behave more like Android's Private Space features, meaning you can store apps in the folder without a copy being kept on the rest of your phone.
Samsung pushing to add more functionality to the Now Bar is sure to be appreciated. However, the real hope here is that the release of One UI 8 is more stable than the One UI 7 launch was, since it was fraught with issues. Thankfully, it seems that Samsung has taken the lessons of the last launch to heart.
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One UI 8 beta is available now, but only if you have a Samsung Galaxy S25, S25 Plus or the S25 Ultra in the U.S., U.K., Korea and Germany. So far, Samsung has not announced whether it will come to other devices or regions yet.