One of the best things about owning a Samsung device is its feature-rich software. There are so many useful settings you can change and features you can use to make your Galaxy phone or tablet work better for you.

In this guide, we'll be looking at the most essential features that you should try right away to make your device more user-friendly.

1. Access Your Notification History

Notifications have become so common that we often swipe them away instinctively without having a proper look. This usually isn't a big deal, but sometimes, you might dismiss a notification that contained important info.

Don't worry, your Samsung phone accounts for moments like these and can store your notification history for the last 24 hours. Here's how to enable it:

  1. Open your device Settings and select Notifications > Advanced settings.
  2. Tap Notification history and toggle it on. Once turned on, your phone will start saving notifications you receive throughout the day. To keep things organized, it'll automatically categorize them based on the apps that sent them.
  3. To view all the notifications you received from a specific app in the last 24 hours, tap the drop-down menu icon beside that app.
    • On top of the list of notifications received in the last 24 hours, you will also see your recently dismissed notifications for quick access.

2. Use Edge Panels for Quick Access

A trivial yet common struggle among smartphone users is trying to find a specific app from the sea of apps on their phones. To make this easier, Samsung phones come with edge panels that act as mini-drawers that you can pull out from the side of the screen.

Along with that, you can set up edge panels to perform a variety of actions such as making calls, taking screenshots, starting voice recordings, checking the weather, starting a timer, opening a new browser tab, and much more.

To enable the feature, simply go to Settings > Display and toggle on Edge panels. Once you enable it, a handle will appear on the right side of your screen (which you can customize later). Swipe it inwards to open and access your panels.

From here, you can populate the Apps panel with your favorite apps (up to 22 apps) by tapping the hamburger icon and selecting Edit. To add more panels, go to the Edge panels menu, tap Panels, and select the ones you find useful.

3. Delete Shared Screenshots

Do you often share screenshots with other people, but then forget to delete them from your gallery? All those screenshots that you don't need to keep are hogging your device's storage.

Luckily, you can set your phone to automatically delete a screenshot after you share it from the screenshot toolbar. To do so, head over to your device Settings, select Advanced features > Screenshots and screen recorder, and toggle on Delete shared screenshots.

Remember, the screenshot toolbar only appears for a couple of seconds after you take a screenshot. So if you miss it, your screenshot will be saved in your gallery, and you'll have to delete it manually afterward.

4. Automate Your Phone With Routines

Routines is an automation feature that allows you to change device settings based on your usage patterns and daily routine. The feature is called Modes and Routines in One UI 5, and Bixby Routines in older versions.

You can use Routines to automate your entire day, where your phone responds and adapts to what you're doing. For instance, if you're driving to work, you can have your phone automatically turn on Mobile data and Location, play your Spotify playlist, open Google Maps, and read your notifications out loud so that you don't have to take your eyes off the road.

5. Control Your Phone With Gestures

Your Galaxy phone is loaded with a bunch of really intuitive motions and gesture settings that make your device more user-friendly. To find them, head over to your device Settings and select Advanced features > Motions and gestures.

Some features you'll find there include:

  • Lift to wake: turns on the screen automatically when you pick up your phone.
  • Double tap to turn on screen and Double tap to turn off screen: helps avoid clicking the power button to control the screen.
  • Keep screen on while viewing: keeps your screen awake when you're using it.
  • Alert when phone picked up: sends haptic feedback when you pick your phone up after having missed a call or message.

6. Game Launcher

Game Launcher is a dedicated space that organizes all your games and offers special features to improve your gaming experience. For instance, you can bookmark relevant apps, web pages, and gallery images for quick access. You can also see all the notifications you received from your games in one place, so you can catch up on anything you might've missed.

With Instant Plays, you can try out a new game instantly to see if it's worth downloading. With Game Booster, you can customize all sorts of settings to optimize your gameplay, save battery, and block disturbances. All these features combined make Game Launcher a great alternative to Google Play Games. Here's how to enable it:

  1. Open your device Settings and go to Advanced features.
  2. Scroll down to find Game Launcher and toggle it on. Upon enabling it, Game Launcher will be added to your app drawer.

7. Improve the Sound Quality on Your Galaxy Device

If you're not impressed by the sound quality of your Galaxy device, there are ways you can make it better. Head over to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Sound quality and effects. Here, you'll see a number of sound settings to improve your listening experience.

Here's what each of these settings does:

  • Dolby Atmos: As you might know, Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound technology that simulates a 360-degree sound effect similar to that of a movie theater. Turning it on instantly improves the overall definition and clarity of your music.
    • You can also use Dolby Atmos for other purposes such as calling or watching movies. For that, tap the Dolby Atmos menu and choose from Auto, Movie, Music, or Voice. For gaming, toggle on Dolby Atmos for gaming.
  • Equalizer: For the audiophiles out there, you can play around with the equalizer, tweaking the lows, mids, and highs to create the perfect sound signature tailored to your taste. Or, you can simply choose from the given presets such as Pop, Classic, Jazz, or Rock.
  • UHQ upscaler: Increases the sound resolution of your music to improve definition and detail. Note that UHQ upscaler is a wired headphones-only feature. If your phone doesn't have a 3.5mm audio jack, you'll need to use a USB-C adapter.
  • Adapt sound: Everyone's ears are unique and have different sensitivity to certain sound frequencies. Knowing this, Adapt sound trains your phone to create a custom sound profile to suit your ears by making you undergo a rigorous sound test.

8. Change the Notification Pop-Up Style

You can customize the look of notification pop-ups to make them less or more noticeable. Here's how to do that:

  1. Open your device Settings and select Notifications.
  2. Go to Brief pop-up settings > Edge lighting style. From here, you can change the pop-up effect, color, transparency, and duration.

Make Your Galaxy Device Work Better for You

Along with the ones listed above, there are a ton of other settings and features that you can discover in your Samsung Galaxy device that help save time, increase your productivity, and improve your lifestyle.

If you want to go a step beyond, you can also download Samsung's Good Lock app from the Galaxy Store to redesign your device to a whole new level. You might be surprised by how well it can change the overall look and feel of your handset.