After months of waiting, Samsung finally opened enrollments for the first One UI 7 beta last week. Since then, Galaxy S24 series users have been able to enjoy the revamped design and new features the company has been working on in early access. However, it seems that Samsung has removed the lock screen widget carousel from One UI 7.
One UI is one of Android’s custom skins with more customization options. Many of them also offer more functionality, such as the option to “hide” widgets on the lock screen behind a carousel that pops up when you tap the clock. This allows you to quickly access some key functions without having to unlock the device.
One UI 7 ditches Samsung’s classic lock screen widget carousel
That said, Redditor FragmentedChicken found that the lock screen widget carousel is no longer available in One UI 7. The South Korean giant even removed the “Widgets” option, which was previously in Settings > Lock Screen and AOD. In previous versions, including One UI 6.1.1, you could set widgets for Digital Wellbeing, Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Manager, Music, Next Alarm, Routines, SmartThings, Today’s Schedule, Weather, and Voice Recorder.
Currently, One UI 7 still allows you to add mini widgets to the lock screen. However, they take up screen space and there are limited slots. There is no official word from Samsung regarding the removal of the lock screen widget carousel in One UI 7. So, we can’t confirm yet if it’s a permanent change or if it will return in future beta updates.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a company removes features because they are little used—or even known. Custom skins like One UI are so jam-packed with options that many users may never discover several of them. In such cases, if a feature has a low usage rate, the company opts to remove it. After all, it wouldn’t make sense to invest resources in maintaining something that no one uses.
However, Galaxy device users still have a workaround. They can use LockStar, a Good Lock module, to add virtually any widget to the lock screen. In related news, the next One UI 7 beta update could include an Audio Eraser feature.