Samsung looks to expand the usefulness of its Dynamic Island-esque Now Bar
We've mentioned before that Samsung's One UI 7 update includes a feature called the Now Bar that appears at the bottom of the Lock Screen on certain Galaxy handsets out of the box and on models updated to One UI 7 (more on that later). The best way to describe the Now Bar is that it delivers the latest up-to-the-minute information to your phone similar to the iPhone's Dynamic Island. Right now the feature works only with some Samsung apps and certain music apps.
With such limited support, the Now Bar is currently being tested in South Korea with local apps optimized to work with the Now Bar, passing along data and information to Galaxy phone users. The top ride-share app in the country, Kakao T, will display on the Now Bar the time that your ride will arrive, and how long it will take to reach your destination. This is the same type of information that iPhone users can get about their Uber ride share from the Dynamic Island.
This info will be available to certain Galaxy users without them having to unlock their devices first. The New Bar feature is part of One UI 7 and also belongs to Google's AI suite. Among the apps being tested by Google for Now Bar is Google Maps.
One popular use of the iPhone's Dynamic Island is to track live sports scores. This is a feature that Samsung apparently wants to add to the Now Bar. Teaming up with South Korea's top search engine Naver, the latter's Naver Sports will be used to disseminate real-time scores in soccer, basketball, baseball, and volleyball.
In addition, 11 local South Korean apps are being adapted for use with the Now Bar. Samsung is also expected to add its "Cross App Action" feature for apps that will work with the Now Bar. This feature allows Sammy's virtual assistants like Bixby or Gemini to use one single voice command to run multiple functions over several apps.
Now Bar comes out of the box with the Samsung Galaxy S25 series as well as the mid-range Galaxy A56 model. As we said, it is part of the One UI 7 which means that older Galaxy models receiving the update will also receive the Now Bar.
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