Exclude Apps from Automatic Sleep Mode
If a messaging or fitness app stops sending notifications hours after you last opened it, Samsung's background power management is probably putting it into deep sleep. Apps in that state get delayed sync, skip background refreshes, and often miss push alerts. You can protect specific apps from this automatic sleep behavior instead of disabling battery optimization for everything.
Turn Open-Eyes Requirement for Face Recognition On or Off
If your Samsung phone unlocks with Face recognition even when your eyes are closed, the open-eyes requirement is probably switched off. On some devices it works the other way around, and the phone refuses to unlock unless your eyes are wide open, which gets annoying if you wear glasses or are half asleep. Both behaviors trace back to a single toggle in the security settings.
Show or Hide Weather Forecast in Calendar
If the small weather icon is missing from your Calendar app, or you want it gone because it clutters your daily view, the setting sits inside the Calendar app itself, not in the weather widget settings. Without the weather forecast widget placed on your Home screen or Side screen first, the calendar option has nothing to pull data from and stays greyed out or invisible.
Turn Touch Interaction Sounds On or Off
If your Samsung phone plays a click or tone every time you tap certain screen elements, notification toggles, or Focus mode switches, the system's touch interaction sound is turned on. You cannot swap the tone for a different sound since it is a fixed system cue, but you can switch the whole feature on or off.
Restore Default Theme
After trying a downloaded theme, a Samsung phone can end up looking nothing like the original layout. Icons, wallpaper, and app drawer colors from the custom theme often stay active even after you delete the theme file. Getting back the stock look needs a separate reset inside the Themes app rather than a simple uninstall.
Turn Lock Instantly with Side Key On or Off
If your Samsung locks the moment you press the side key, but the screen also re-locks itself after a short delay once you turn it back on, two separate settings are working against each other. Lock instantly with Side key forces an immediate lock on every power button press, while Lock automatically runs its own independent timer. Mixing both can make your device ask for your PIN, pattern or password far more often than you expect.
Allow Unknown App Installations
Downloaded an .apk file straight from a website and your Samsung phone refuses to install it? That block comes from the system default that only trusts apps delivered through the Google Play Store or Galaxy Store. Since Android 9, this permission is no longer a single global switch, it has to be granted separately for every app that tries to install something.
Turn Screen Lock/Unlock Sound On or Off
Every time you lock or wake your Samsung phone, a short click or chime plays even though you never set a custom ringtone for it. That sound comes from the general system sound controls, not from notifications, and most people only find a plain on/off switch with no way to pick a different tone.
Turn On or Off the Eye Comfort Shield (Blue Light Filter)
If your Samsung screen still feels harsh on your eyes after dark or you struggle to fall asleep after scrolling before bed, the Eye comfort shield is probably switched off or set too weak. This built-in filter cuts the blue light your display emits, but its schedule and intensity settings are easy to overlook. Many people only notice the setting exists after eye strain or a restless night.
Pin a Conversation to the Top of Messages
When you text a lot of people, your most important chats can get buried fast because the Messages app sorts everything by time, newest on top. If a key contact keeps sliding down the list every time someone else texts you, there is no quick way to jump straight to that conversation. Samsung lets you fix this by marking a chat as a favorite so it always stays visible.
Turn On Birthday Reminders in the Calendar
Samsung Calendar shows birthdays pulled from your contacts, but it stays silent when one is coming up. No notification pops up on the day itself or beforehand, so birthdays slip by unnoticed unless you check the calendar manually. The alert for this feature is hidden separately from your other calendar notifications.
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.
Turn Color Inversion On or Off
If your screen suddenly shows white as black and every colour looks swapped, Color inversion is active on your Samsung phone. It flips the whole display, including photos and videos, which makes reading and using apps confusing until you switch it back.
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.
Show Battery Usage Stats
If your Samsung phone drains faster than expected, it is hard to tell which app or setting is responsible without a breakdown. Samsung's battery usage screen logs consumption hour by hour for up to seven days and marks exactly when the phone was recharged. That level of detail helps you spot whether an app, a screen-on session, or a background process is pulling the most power.
Turn On or Off SOS Emergency Messages
Pressing the side or power key three times fast can silently fire off an emergency text with your location to contacts you never meant to alert - or the feature might not trigger at all when you actually need it. This usually comes down to how 'Send SOS messages' is configured under Advanced features.
Add Birthday to a Contact
If a friend's contact card in Samsung Contacts has no space for a birthday, the field is not missing - it is just hidden by default. Samsung keeps birthday, anniversary and other important dates tucked away behind an extra menu step, so most people never notice it exists. Once you know where to look, adding the date takes only a few taps.
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.
Add an App to Do Not Disturb Exceptions
If WhatsApp calls or Facebook messages stay silent while Do Not Disturb is active, the app is not listed as an exception yet. Samsung mutes every notification by default once the mode is on, even from apps you consider urgent. Adding the app to the exception list lets its alerts pass through regardless of the mode.
Turn On/Off Widgets on Lock Screen
If the music player, next alarm, or calendar no longer shows up on your Samsung lock screen, the Widgets option is likely switched off. Some people want the opposite and disable widgets entirely, since alarms, app info, or playback controls can be visible without unlocking the device. Both directions are controlled from the same lock screen setting.
Add Bookmark Shortcut to Home Screen
If you open the same website every day, digging through saved bookmarks in Samsung Internet gets old fast. Pinning that page to your home screen turns it into a tappable icon, right next to your apps, that you can move or drop into a folder like any other shortcut.
Add a Fingerprint on Samsung
Trying to unlock your Samsung phone with your fingerprint but the option in Settings stays greyed out? Samsung always requires a backup PIN, password, or pattern before the Fingerprints menu becomes available. Without that secondary lock set first, you cannot enrol a new fingerprint at all.
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.