The Now Bar is one of the best features in One UI 7 – and could soon come to your cheaper Samsung phone | TechRadar

Feb 21, 2025

Not just for flagships

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One of our favorite features in One UI 7 (that's Samsung's take on Android 15) is the Now Bar – a lock screen widget for live updates – and it seems Samsung is planning to roll out the feature beyond its flagship smartphones.

We've already seen the Now Bar on the Samsung Galaxy S25 and in beta form on the Samsung Galaxy S24, but the team at SamMobile has found evidence that it's heading to the more affordable Samsung Galaxy A06 5G as well.

This comes through leaked specs and promotional material for the affordable handset, which mentions the Now Bar as one of the upgrades. This is going to be the follow-up to the Galaxy A06 LTE phone that was launched last year.

That's reassuring for those with budget or midrange Samsung phones: the Galaxy A06 5G is expected to be an entry-level handset, so if it can manage displaying the Now Bar on screen, most current and future Samsung devices should also be able to.

The Now Bar borrows some of the ideas introduced by the Dynamic Island on iOS, which also displays information such as live sports scores, updates on deliveries, and more – anything you might want constant, real time updates on.

It joins a host of other new features introduced with One UI 7, including AI-powered writing assistance, improved security protections, and a design overhaul that introduces a more modern and more responsive interface.

However, while the Now Bar seems set for all Galaxy handsets in line for One UI 7, the same can't be said for everything else. The Now Brief feature, which uses AI to surface useful information as you need it, won't reach older handsets (via GSMArena).

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Then there's the issue of One UI 7 itself rolling out more widely. All future Galaxy phones, including the Galaxy A06 5G, should come with the software on board – but if you've got a handset launched before 2025, you could be waiting a while.

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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