Hide Apps from the Home Screen
If an app icon keeps cluttering your Samsung home screen even though you barely use it, uninstalling feels too drastic, especially for preinstalled apps you might need later. One UI has a built-in Hide apps option that removes the icon from the home and apps screens without deleting anything. The app stays installed, keeps running in the background, and is still listed in your full app settings.
Move Photos and Videos to an Album
Photos and videos from your camera or downloads often end up scattered across different albums, making it hard to find anything later. Samsung Gallery lets you move or copy several files into one album at once, but the prompt asking whether to copy or move can be confusing the first time you see it.
Change Calendar View
The Samsung Calendar app opens in month view by default, even if you prefer to track events by day or week. Switching to a different layout is done through a menu option that is easy to overlook the first time you look for it.
Show or Hide Frequently Contacted
If your Contacts app keeps showing a Frequently contacted section above your saved contacts, Samsung is tracking who you called or messaged most in the last 30 days. That list updates on its own and can expose contacts you would rather not have visible at a glance. The setting behind it sits in the Contacts app itself, not in your general phone settings.
Set Up Smart Lock
If your Samsung phone still asks for a PIN at home, in the car, or when it is paired with your smartwatch, Smart Lock is probably switched off. This Android feature keeps the device unlocked when it detects a trusted place, a trusted Bluetooth device, or that you are carrying it. Without it enabled, you fall back to manual unlocking every single time, even in low-risk situations.
Clear Call Log
Every incoming, outgoing, missed and rejected call stays listed in the Samsung Phone app until you remove it yourself. Old numbers, call times, durations and even the SIM card used pile up over weeks, which can be a privacy issue if someone else picks up your phone. There is no automatic cleanup, so the log only grows unless you clear it manually.
Switch Navigation Bar Between Buttons and Gestures
If your Samsung phone shows three buttons at the bottom instead of a slim gesture bar - or the other way round - you can switch the layout yourself. Some people find the thin gesture bar too easy to trigger by accident, while others miss the dedicated Back button once gestures are active. The right setup depends on how confidently you swipe versus tap.
Change SIM Card PIN
If your carrier has SIM PIN protection turned on, your phone asks for that code every time you restart it or reinsert the card. Many people never changed this PIN from the default one their provider assigned, which is a security risk if the phone gets lost. On a Dual SIM device you also need to pick the correct slot before the change takes effect.
App Icon Badges: Enable or Disable per App
If your home screen keeps showing a red notification dot on apps you barely open, while a messaging app you actually check stays silent, the global App icon badges switch is not doing the job. Samsung lets you control badges for each app separately, but many people only ever touch the main toggle. Without checking the individual app settings, badges end up either everywhere or nowhere.
Turn On/Off Message Delivery Reports
If you send a text message and never see a confirmation that it arrived, delivery reports are probably switched off on your Samsung phone. This status, called Show when delivered, marks the exact moment the recipient's device receives your message. Carriers process this confirmation without extra charge in almost all cases.
Back Up Secure Folder Data
Your Secure Folder content stays out of every regular Samsung backup, so files you drop inside it can vanish for good if the device is reset, lost, or replaced. Because the backup itself gets stored to your Samsung account rather than to the device backup, skipping this step leaves apps, photos, and documents inside Secure Folder completely unprotected.
Allow or Block Messages in Do Not Disturb
When Do Not Disturb is on, your Samsung phone hides every incoming SMS and MMS by default, even from close contacts. If you need certain texts to get through during quiet hours, the message exception list controls exactly who can reach you.
Set the First Day of the Week in Calendar
If your calendar always starts on Sunday even though you expect Monday, Samsung Calendar is following the standard location setting instead of your personal preference. This mix-up shows up right after a region change or a fresh device setup, and it throws off week numbers and planning views. Switching the start day yourself fixes the display without changing anything else in Calendar.
Change Default Browser App
If every link you tap opens in Samsung Internet instead of Chrome, Firefox, or whatever browser you actually prefer, your phone is still using Samsung Internet as the system default. This happens even after you install a new browser, because Samsung keeps the original default active until you switch it yourself. Once you know where that setting lives, moving to another browser only takes a few taps.
Set Up Access Point Name (APN) Manually
If mobile data won't load on your Samsung phone even with full signal, a missing or incorrect access point name (APN) is often the cause. Carriers normally push this setting the first time you activate a SIM, but a SIM swap, factory reset, or firmware update can wipe it out. Without a valid APN entry, your phone has no address to route data traffic to your carrier's network.
Remove a Folder from the Home Screen
A folder full of apps keeps taking up space on your home screen even after you have moved the apps out of it. On Samsung phones, folders behave like ordinary app icons, which confuses users looking for a delete option in a settings menu.
Block Unknown Callers Automatically
If your Samsung phone keeps ringing with calls that show no name or number, spam and private-number callers are getting through unfiltered. This happens because the option that blocks hidden caller IDs is turned off by default in the calling settings. Once switched on, any call without a visible phone number gets rejected before it can ring.
Change Clock Style on Lock Screen
If the lock screen clock always shows the same digital format and you want a different layout, color or extra details like seconds and date, the option is buried inside the lock screen settings rather than the display menu. Some phones also show a grayed-out clock style option when Roaming Clock is active, which stops you from customizing anything until it's turned off.
Weather Notifications in Status Bar
If your Samsung phone keeps pushing a weather update into the status bar or notification panel, that alert actually comes from the Google app, not a dedicated weather app. It reappears every time conditions change, even if you never asked for it and have no weather widget installed. Turning it off means adjusting a notification category rather than uninstalling anything.
Number Row on Samsung Keyboard
If your Samsung keyboard suddenly shows a full row of digits above the letters, or that row is missing and you have to tap and hold a letter until a popup with the number appears, the number row layout has been switched. This setting decides whether typing numbers takes one tap or a tap-and-hold, and it changes how much space the keyboard takes up on screen.
Set Default Storage Location for Contacts
Every time you save a new contact on a Samsung phone, a pop-up asks where to store it, and tapping through that prompt gets old fast if you always pick the same account. This happens because no default storage location is set yet in the Contacts app. Once you set one, new entries save automatically without the extra question.
Turn Power Saving Mode On or Off
When your Samsung battery drains faster than usual, Power saving mode limits background data use and blocks location lookups for apps you are not actively using, while stretching what charge is left. Depending on the model, it can also turn off Always On Display and lower CPU speed, so screen behavior and app performance change until you switch the mode back off.
Enlarge the Mouse Pointer
Once you connect a mouse or touchpad to your Samsung device, the on-screen pointer often stays tiny and hard to track, especially on larger displays. This gets worse if you also use a stylus or have reduced vision, since the default pointer size was built for touch input, not precise cursor tracking.
Turn Off System Animations
Motion effects on Samsung phones can trigger discomfort or mild dizziness for people sensitive to visual movement. Menu transitions, app switches, and other interface animations stay active by default until you turn them off. This control sits inside a Samsung accessibility feature, not the general display menu, which is why many users never find it.