One UI 7 may have only just rolled out, but we’re already eagerly awaiting One UI 8. Thankfully, there’s a lot to talk about on that front, with the One UI 8 beta builds providing plenty of exciting new features to learn about. However, the latest One Ui 8 beta build has fans excited not because of what it’s adding, but because of what it’s bringing back.
As spotted on Reddit, the One UI 8 beta 2 has reintroduced lock screen notification icons, a beloved feature of One UI 6, which had gone missing for One UI 7. However, revelry soon ended when it became apparent this wasn’t a full rollback to the old style, only a partial return under certain circumstances.
It seems to only work under specific circumstances
Fans want the old style back
What are lock screen notification icons? In short, they’re small icons that appear below the clock on the One UI lock screen. In One UI 6, this small line of icons would allow you to see which apps had sent you notifications with a quick glance. It was especially useful for seeing if you had any missed calls, as that icon would almost always stand out. Redditor u/notreallysorry shared the image below to show what the icons looked like in One UI 6.
u/notreallysorry on Reddit
Unfortunately, these icons were changed in One UI, with large notification cards becoming the default. While you can still get icons on the lock screen, they’ve been moved to the top-left corner of the screen, mirroring how notifications appear when the phone is unlocked. If you have a smaller phone, it’s safe to say you won’t see a lot of icons there. It’s safe to say fans were annoyed at this change, and have been hoping Samsung would revert the icons to One UI 6’s style.
That’s why fans were overjoyed when they saw that icons seemed to have made a return in the One UI 8 beta 2 build. As you can see below, the icons below the clock bear a very strong resemblance to One UI 6’s icons, providing fast readability that doesn’t take up a lot of space on the lock screen. We’ve highlighted the icons with a red box so you can see it easily.
This seemed to be a cause for triumph for Samsung’s faithful, but unfortunately, as the original poster soon discovered, it was only a partial return. Unfortunately, this row of icons only appears when the clock is so large there’s no room for the One UI 7 cards to appear beneath. Since Full_Application491 had made their lock screen clock larger and added a widget, One UI 8 compensated by shrinking its notifications into a bar.
It’s a bittersweet finding. On the plus side, you can emulate this on One UI 7 and the One UI 8 beta by making your clock larger. But that does mean filling your lock screen up, and not having to do so was one of the advantages of the previous icon style.
It’s a step in the right direction for sure, but likely not the outcome many Samsung fans want. Hopefully Samsung will see the light and add in this extremely popular feature again.
