Android updates: thanks I hate it.

This is without a doubt the worst software update I've ever experienced. Straight up fucked my shit up

I think most of the update is pretty okay (unpopular opinion: I kinda like the new battery icon), except for the notification panel, which they completely ruined.
It used to be that persistent notifications (which need to be there so apps like tasker and kde connect don't get killed) were neatly at the bottom. Now they're just randomly mixed in with the other notifications, so chats, emails, etc.

I hate that my music player is now relegated to a tiny nub at the bottom of the lock screen that defaults now to google ads for sports betting unless you turn it off.
Also my phone now randomly vibrates every so often, just gently enough to think it was imagined and I think it's to drain the battery faster to push people to buy a new phone. But that's just conspiracy from how garbage the rest of this update has been.
- Hey so I had a similar problem with the random vibrations, I found that the update turned on Notification Reminders in settings for texts and missed calls. I'd double check those settings around that and I hope it helps you
  
  "Alert when phone picked up"
  Was the name of the setting turned on. In the motion settings.
  Still not sure how they could have named that harder to find without writing it in Korean.

I AM STILL PISSED ABOUT THIS FORCED UPDATE. the second a linux phone is usable daily I will buy one. FUCK SAMSUNG
- Sounds like you already have one. Samsung phones are pretty bad though.
- There's a lot of options. Volla phone, fn(x), fur something. You can use a google pixel 3a to put ubuntu onto. I've found that most of those phone have mid specs, unless you're really wishing to dish out.
  
  Would the Google pixel not retain some line to Google? I've been leaning more and more towards getting away from Google and Microsoft. With Linux, I'm scared I'll have an unsecure system just by virtue of not knowing dick about Linux except the little coding I've taken courses on that barely scratched it.
  Only reason I got Samsung was the cameras on the S22 or 24 or whatever it is I have. Pixel has good cameras, I've heard, but it's entirely Google. Does putting Ubuntu remove all that...?
  Sorry if not the place to ask.

For anyone on Samsung, I've also been fighting with with the OneUI changes, look into the GoodLock app from the Samsung App store, it's published by Samsung and helps you take (more) control over how attributes behave and act, along with changing things like the Lock Screen looks and what shows up and how. I can give more info if anyone wants or provide screenshots here if anyone would like
Here's a link to the app in their store https://apps.samsung.com/appquery/appDetail.as?appId=com.samsung.android.goodlock
- Whelp, my Galaxy A16 is not supported.
  
  I'm just theorising here, but I wonder if you could download the apk externally and try that way, I'm thinking they could just be software locking you out app store side

third-party android modifications*
my family's pixel devices, and mine running gos, don't have this. nor the cell bar style, nor the 'we have to advertise the wifi version so people feel good that bigger number = better' wifi icon style...
the default is just a battery icon, though I have it set on my phone to also show the percent alongside it. this hasn't changed in many years. blame your manufacturer and their skinning and modding.
- Yeah seeing the post had me worried for a while but appears it's not and android thing but a Samsung thing. This is why I stopped buying Samsung phones 6 years ago.
  
  Oh thank God. I'm probably going to update my Pixel soon and was worried

Yeah I am sticking with my custom rom until the phone dies. Then probably getting a Sony phonr because those apparently have a no nonsense android on them.
- Yeah I've bought my last Samsung. These over-redesigned UIs that nobody asked for piss me off. If I wanted ugly Apple trash I'd buy ugly Apple trash.
- I have two Sonys and love them both. I like that they're thinner so it's easier to hold, too. Still have headphone jack and side fingerprint reader.
  
  Good to hear. I had a sony a while ago. Xperia Z1 compact I think. Great little phone it was. Sadly they now only make really high end phones anymore.
- Bootloader unlockable for my past 2 sonys. Plus headphone jack ftw

I miss the sideways swiping in the all apps. I manually changed it, but new apps have to manually be put in place. This new UI suuuuuuuuuuucks. I wish that I could change it back.
- Try a custom launcher - this way you can expect things to stay mostly consistent across major upgrades.
  I understand the reasons for liking stock, but that comes with the risk of getting an overhaul every once in a while.

OneUI 7 is visually a steaming pile of shit. Real "we have iPhone at home" vibes throughout. Specifically for me what they've done with icons, why cant i have white or colored icons with dark mode?
Beta testers complained so much up to release how uncohesive everything is and Samsung constantly shut down feedback with "this doesn't meet our design goals". Surprise, now it hits general public and everyone still hates their goals. This won't ruin them, but it defintely makes me reconsider Samsung going forward.
Edit - yes I know there's third party solutions to most android problems, but shouldn't have to load apps and spend hours customizing to interface without vomiting.
- I hate how ultra round everything is. Especially sliders like for volume feel so weird and look that way too. I really liked the OneUI 6.x rectangular design with rounded corners way more.
  The dropdown panel is also stupid. It's just so incredibly clumsy as you have to pull it down from very top, meanwhile the other mode allows you to double swipe down anywhere on the panel and it expands.
  
  I am not sure if it is intended to look like this, but how the fuck am I supposed to read my volumes now? What the fuck is this contrast? I have to wear glasses, but without them I could manage (like, when I wake up), but this is now almost unreadable without them. Same with battery.
- All of my family members have Samsung phones and every single one of them has been complaining about the update. Normal people, tech people, it doesn't matter. They all hate it. It's actually kind of insane. The only reason I have been spared so far is that my phone is too old to get the new OneUI update. I can't imagine any of them will buy a Samsung next time they buy a phone if the UI stays like this. People who buy Android phones are people who like Android phones. You're not going to lure iPhone users to Android by being more like an iPhone because they're just going to buy the real deal instead. It's just stupid. Just the battery icon discussed in the OP was the source of a lot of complaints because it is extremely hard to read especially for older people.
- Crazy that they didn’t actually leverage the beta for changing the UX too. A good beta isn’t just to catch bugs, it’s also to catch user experience problems.
- To your edit: that's one of top 3 reasons I moved to iOS and while there are annoyances, overall I've been happy with it for 3 years. Not suggesting everyone should switch but if you're tired of tinkering, it's a good option.
- Ha, uncohesive! Exactly. I was looking for a word what I think of the changes and can absolutely agree.
  It's a mess.
  Bonus: my (Samsung) camera (app) didn't zoom when I pressed 3x and after I pinchzoomed manually, I could not take a photo (button did nothing). That never happened before and I missed a good shot 🤬. Afterwards it worked again. Hope that's not recurring...

Shitty Life Pro Tip, just keep your battery below 19% and they can't update.
taps head 😎
- I filled up my storage and now I just get download failed notifications every morning. Happy accident, but now I won't ever empty my storage again.
  
  I know this is a joke... But just in case:
  You know that you can turn off automatic updates, right?

Laughs at you in Galaxy S10

that's just samsung though, i'm on android 15 too and my battery looks like a battery

I hate the new top pull-down menus.
- If you pull down and tap the little pencil to edit, then go to panel settings, you will find the option to change the pulldown menus from separate back to together. It made me less irritated but I still dont like the new look.
  
  Thank you for sharing this
  
  I changed that as soon as I got into the the wrong thing for the fifth time by accident.
  Maybe it's my (front display) slim phone but who designs shit like that?
- Why? I'm really frustrated it right now because I'm not used to it, but the settings drop down always felt cramped and this logically makes more sense. I can't think of an instance where I simultaneously wanted to see notifications and settings. Seems to make sense to separate these. I also thought it was annoying when I switched from the little nav buttons at the bottom to gestures, but man I can't imagine being without gestures now.
  
  Tbh I actually got used to it since posting that comment

Edit: i thought this was a samsung sublemmy, I missed Lemmy shitpost, but im not deleting what i typed i feel like i spent a good half hour bitching about it and frankly feel more vindicated seeing others complain.

Overall negative and has me rethinking keeping with the Fold line given their price. If anyone has a Launcher to fix some of these issues or to restore voice text making calls, I'd appreciate it.
- I hate the battery not looking like a battery.
  Welcome to One UI 7 🙃
- Yes, icons got smaller and a row was added. They also changed the weather app to be scalable (ie not every icon needs to be 1:1 squares, they can scale now).
  I was able to merge everything on my second page into my first page, so now Inly have 1 "desktop"-like page with folders
  My biggest issue is that now I dont see notifications when I open my phone and swipe down, I have to swipe down TWICE now. Once for the system menu, again for the notifications. Its like they switched the 2 panels' priority
  
  That's really weird... Have you reverted the Notification panel back to it's original behaviour? I have it like that and it works same as it ever was.
  
  Re-upload, casually doxed myself

I hate the single page scroll app drawer. I enjoy being able to swipe up to toggle between home and the app drawer. If you keep the single page scrolling drawer, you can't swipe up to get back to home. You can change this and revert to pages like we had before, but for some unholy stupid fucking reason, you can't sort it alphabetically. Like, really? I've had to manually reposition all of my apps, and for some reason the toggle seems to be pretty janky to settle an app into the place you want it, so insanely annoying. Add alphabetical sorting back, come on. Basic shit.
- Don't forget the search is now at the bottom of the app drawer instead of the top like it used to be.
  
  sometimes it's chill to just move a component around randomly, if a ux designer feels like "it just vibes different." the modern equivalent of feng shui, or giving a shit about crystals
- I tried that but unfortunately when I sort alphabetically it just returns to the single scrolling page. When I go back to custom sort it's still in random order. Can't believe the oversight on this basic feature. Thanks for the advice though.

Oh boy, can't wait to see this garbage on my Samsung Tab 9. My mom upgraded me from my dusty, way beyond eol Kindle Fire that I had, cause all I really did on it was watch YT and read/web browse, plus this model was on sale. Was excited, until I realized I couldn't custom ROM it like my precious Pixel.
Like another comment said, Samsung/One UI is truly the Apple of Android, and it's dogshit. So much bloat that I had to disable/delete, random UI changes that oversimplify/water down personality, stupid settings I will literally never use, etc.
The best I could get is a stock Android GSI, but I'm not sure if potential bugs and battery life issues would occur, and I don't want to root.
- Samsung caught me early (like 2010 or early 2011.) Years later I got a Pixel and was astonished at how much stupid shit isn't in regular Android. Also looking up how to change settings on Google suddenly started being way easier.
- As an oppo user I can only say: you're wrong. You're very wrong.
  Samsung one UI is a godsend compared with this.... This .. shit.
  Popups, tracking, insane ui choices. Half of the shit doesn't work behind a pihole which in itself is damning enough. Everything feels bolted on. Everything feels like its only there to check boxes. Nothing feels natural. Gestures here but not there. Apple style features in Android so half of the time you're totally lost: does this option still use standard Android logic or is this rewritten as an apple clone?
  I really feel tricked into buying this phone. Excellent reviews but the user experience is very lacking. Maybe all of the reviewers are apple users and are happy to see all this shit in Android but I for one am lost. I use Android because i hate the apple way of doing things. If i wanted an apple device I would've bought an apple device.
  I kept it because i thought it would get used to it. I did not.
- My dad bought a new tablet. I spent over an hour debloating it with ADB just to get it to a usable state.
  I really don't know why people love their products. Even the performance out of the box is utter shit until you disable the virtual RAM.
- Motorola is the only android for me. They can easily last 6 years plus.
  
  I loved my 7G Play like it was my own child in middle school. It was my third phone, and not a hand-me-down like the Note 4 and the iPhone 6? that I had previously. Kids used to green bubble shame and be like "OMG wtf is a Motorola?!?!" but I loved it. I didn't do too much crazy shit on it cause I still was a less-curious middle schooler, but I did get a cracked version of a wallpaper app to use this special Persona 5 background, and I loved it. I didn't love my next hand-me-down iPhone X nearly as much, in fact I hated it so much in highschool that once I graduated my mom got me my current Pixel 8a as a gift.
  I tested putting a custom ROM on my old Motorola to prepare for doing GrapheneOS on my Pixel (silly, since they literally have a button to do it for you on the website) and once it loaded up LineageOS it felt like Christmas again. I seriously almost considered using it again, and was just so happy to scroll through it lol.
- same here with my A55 luckily i still have Oneui 6.1
  
  I still use a note8 with OneUI 1.0 and android 9 lmao

They should’ve just copied iOS and made it look like a little battery.
- I bet they patented (or trademarked or...) that look.
  
  I'm on oneUI 6 (samsung) and it looks like a battery. I think the way it looks in the post is a symptom of brain dead design...
  Edit: oh God it's being rolled out to my phone on 25th may, better figure out how to not get this...
  
  This seems like a tough case to win in court. Patents usually don’t hold up when you’re dealing with obvious stuff.
  And in this case, they’d be arguing about an extra 8px of border radius and a 8px semi circle.
- The arrow shows on which side the battery is.
  
  It's there! ▶️
- https://9to5google.com/2025/05/05/android-16-battery-icon-leak/

I just got a Samsung phone and haven't seen anything besides the current version and for me it's fine.
- People tend to overreact when something changes. It is normal.

One UI 7 is the worst update I've ever suffered in my entire life.
Win7->10 wasn't this bad.
- I see you're skipping windows 7→8 which is fair because most people did
  
  There is no Windows 8 in Ba Sing Sei.
- It convinced me to finally order a refurbished Pixel 8 sp I can switch to Graphene.
- I was given an old Galaxy tab 8 on friday. I played with it for a while, and it was super snappy and quick.
  Then it updated
  then updated again
  then updated again.
  And finally again.
  Ended up with OneUI6.1
  Tablets like 1/3rd as snappy as it used to be.
  If thats how big of a shit pile UI6 is, then I pray to god UI7 never gets on my tablet.

I genuinely feel for y'all not able to flash your own OS.
I bought a fairphone and have been running lineageOS on it.
- I think it's just that we don't have roms tell our phones are eol?
  
  That's one aspect, but many phones are also just straight-up not jail-breakeable. It's an unfortunate reality of the phone manufacturing world that they put up as many barriers as possible to try and prevent you from having free range with your phone.

Hey at least it shows the battery percentage unlike the old default option!
- Old one with massive percentage number next to battery icon was so idiotic.
  
  It was more readable, to me. So for people with waning eyesight this is a massive step back.

It's sooo terrible. I updated my phone not realizing it was going to be such a big change & it kind of ruined my day.
I'd love to go with a different OS, but nothing has stylus support for writing and note taking :/
- Dito. I thought it was a minor update and was greeted by 'welcome' letting me feel as if my mobile was reset for a few minutes.
  Bad experience. And just because it needed to make absolutely sure I do not ignore the gemini AI.
  I then ignored the gemini AI, out of spite alone.

Oh fuck, I hate this too. Fucked up the video player and a bunch of my settings as well. Why is everything so round!? Why did they fuck up my clock widget SO BAD!??

Samsung updates, they ruin android more and more with each one. The quality of the ROM an android comes with is a very underrated thing to consider when buying. Pixels are very close to stock android. Nothing is also good, farther from stock but the changes are for the better imo. OnePlus was good last time I had one, but not sure if they still are.

Try custom ROMs if you can (this is android 14 BTW)
- OneUI means Samsung.
  Samsung means: can't do shit in the US, limited shit outside of the US. AFAIK most custom ROMs, especially for higher end Samsung's are OneUI based. They also make it difficult (or impossible?) to use VoLTE/VoNR with custom ROMs because of their own proprietary IMS stack
  
  I've been gifted a few old Samsung S3s for using in our workshop at work. They're all the same model, but it turns out that one of them runs a different processor. So I've been able to put LineageOS on two of them, but the third refuses to unlock.
  Meanwhile, I moved into the world of Android a few months ago after having iPhones since 2009. Within half an hour of taking delivery of my Pixel 9 it was running GrapheneOS.
  Fuck Samsung.
- Idk if someone even made a rom for my A55
  and am not in the U.S and i have oem unlocking in the settings
  and i would rather use stock rom instead of GSI
  
  You could look for that model on xdaforums.com, that's my go-to place for anything mobile devices and custom ROM related

It looks almost exactly like the apple one
- It does not. Apple’s is a little battery. This looks more like a notification badge. Corner radius is too big, and it needs a nipple.
  
  Not much that isn't better with a nipple. Not going to argue with that
- I heard that Samsung is trying to "Apple-ify" their One UI

Ha! Not my problem. Thanks planned obsolescence 👍

Is this oneUI 7? If it is, tell me so i can stay in 6.1 when the update comes.
- I think it's 7
- Yup. Avoid it if you can

And it shows up on the AOD now, and you can't get rid of it. Plus, they changed smart select to some "draw on your screen" bulletin that takes an extra button press to get to, and it works worse than the version before at auto sizing to what you wanted.
They also changed the options for app grid layout to remove the 5x5. Now you just have 6x4 and 6x5. Plus the colors of the icons changed, and the default weather widget changes. I had my home screen in a way that I was used to, and now it's all over the place. I feel like everything that was OK before got a huge downgrade, probably to make room for AI bullshit.
- My AOD clock is bouncing around now and sometimes get clipped off the screen

I hate it aswell

What was it before this?

I don't mind it. Wish the notifications were more compact, but that's about it.
- If you pull down and tap the little pencil to edit, then go to panel settings, you will find the option to change the pulldown menus from separate back to together.

My autocorrect/word suggestion box is white with a slightly less white font.

They could also replace the other ones with the same concept, and have identical visualizations for different things, very intuitive.

I like it. The "progress bar" style fill is nice and clear, and it's so much better than having an icon with a number next to it. "BuT iT dOeSn'T lOoK LiKe A bAtTeRy" what, do you think your phone is full of AAs? A plain oblong is actually closer to the mark.
- For me it's not about liking. My eyes aren't as good as they were and the far worse contrast combined with the smaller size worsens the readability significantly.
  (Don't rush but you'll get there.)
- I just hate the greyed out bit. To much like it's partially selected.