Samsung’s Android Notification Problem Explained
▼ Summary
– Samsung disables Android’s notification snoozing feature by default, requiring users to manually enable it in settings.
– The company also turns off Android’s notification categories by default, preventing granular control over app notifications without user intervention.
– Samsung’s notification history feature is broken, as tapping old notifications opens the app instead of the original content.
– Lockscreen notifications are made less useful by default on Samsung devices, requiring settings adjustments to restore visibility.
– These changes hide useful Android notification features from most Samsung users, who remain unaware these options exist.
Making the switch to a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 as my primary device has been mostly smooth, but one persistent frustration stands out: Samsung’s baffling tendency to undermine Android’s excellent notification system. This feels like an odd form of self-sabotage from a company that otherwise produces such impressive hardware.
Android notifications are a genuine strength of the platform, offering far more flexibility and control than what’s available on competing operating systems. Yet Samsung appears determined to disable some of the most helpful notification features right out of the box.
Take the snooze function, for instance. On most Android phones, a small alarm clock icon sits at the bottom of a notification. Tapping it lets you dismiss an alert and have it reappear later at a preset time. It’s incredibly practical for managing your attention. Samsung, however, disables this snooze feature by default. While it’s true that stock Android has also disabled this in recent versions, Samsung goes a step further by overriding your previous settings during device setup. If you’re migrating from a Pixel or another Android phone where you had snoozing enabled, Samsung will turn it off again.
Another powerful tool that gets hidden is notification categories. This Android feature lets you fine-tune alerts from individual apps. Instead of silencing an app entirely, you can choose which types of notifications you want to receive. For example, on Instagram, you could disable alerts for likes and comments while still getting messages. Samsung disables this granular control by default, forcing users to manually navigate deep into the Settings menu to reactivate it.
Then there’s the issue of notification history. Samsung not only buries this feature within multiple layers of menus, but the implementation is also fundamentally broken. On a Google Pixel, tapping a historical notification opens the specific content it referenced, just as if it were new. On Samsung devices, tapping an old notification simply launches the app, stripping away the context and making the history feature far less useful.
The list of puzzling choices continues. Samsung recently altered the default behavior for lockscreen notifications, making them less informative and requiring users to, once again, dive into Settings to restore their visibility.
It’s difficult to understand the rationale behind these decisions. Android provides these robust, user-centric tools for managing the constant stream of alerts, and Samsung seems to assume its customers don’t need or want them. While the features are technically still present in the software, the reality is that the vast majority of Samsung Galaxy owners are completely unaware they exist. They aren’t asking for these functions to be hidden, which makes the company’s approach all the more confusing.
What’s your experience? Have you noticed Samsung’s adjustments to the notification system? Do you find these features useful, and were you aware they were available on your device?
This Week’s Leading Tech Updates
Wear OS 6 Begins Rollout Alongside Pixel Watch 4 Launch
Google has officially released the Pixel Watch 4 series, and the initial reviews are in. Consensus suggests this is a more significant upgrade than it might initially appear, making it a device worth serious consideration. A major part of the update is the software, with Wear OS 6 now starting its deployment to previous models, including the Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel Watch 3.
(Source: 9to5 Google)
