How to use and customize Galaxy S9 lock screen?

The ultimate guide to Galaxy S9 lock screen

Galaxy S9 lock screen not only keeps your data safe but also offers some useful features and information to improve your productivity.

Table of Contents hide

1) What is Galaxy S9 lock screen?

2) How to set up Galaxy S9 lock screen security?

2.1) Step 1: Access Galaxy S9 Settings

2.2) Step 2: Go to lock screen and security settings

2.3) Step 3: Change screen lock type

3) How to customize and change app shortcuts in Galaxy S9 lock screen?

4) How to customize facewidgets in Galaxy S9 lock screen?

5) How to customize notifications in Galaxy S9 lock screen?

This Galaxy S9 how-to guide shows you how to set up, use and customise the lock screen of Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Please note although Galaxy S9 supports landscape mode in Galaxy S9 Home screen, Galaxy S9 lock screen is always in portrait mode.

What is Galaxy S9 lock screen?

Galaxy S9 lock screen likes a door to Galaxy S9 and S9+. You need this door to protect your data and info saved on the phone.

But Galaxy S9 lock screen is also an information centre for you so that you can get some essential info without unlocking the phone or opening any apps.

The information provided through Galaxy S9 lock screen varies depending on your customisation. By default, you can get at least the following info in Galaxy 9 lock screen:

Time and date (clock).
Carrier info.
Media player controller.
Your schedule.
Notifications.
Next alarm.

In addition, Galaxy S9 lock screen allows you to:

Change a few settings (not related to data or privacy) of Galaxy S9 and S9+ through quick setting buttons, for example, turn on/off the blue light filter.
Add up to 2 app shortcuts to lock screen.
Use Galaxy S9 camera without unlocking the phone.
Make emergency calls.

Of course, to protect your data in Galaxy S9 or S9+, most of the settings can only be changed after you unlock the phone.

How to set up Galaxy S9 lock screen security?

By default, when you set up Galaxy S9 or S9+, it will ask you to set up the lock screen security.

If you skip that step, the default lock screen security, swipe, will be used.

Of course, you can change Galaxy S9 lock screen security at any time.

And you should NOT set Galaxy S9 lock screen security to swipe or none.

If you use either of the options, your data in Galaxy S9 or S9+ are at risk. Anyone, including thieves, can access your phone without restrictions. They can impersonate you.

To change Galaxy S9 lock screen security, you may follow these steps.

Step 1: Access Galaxy S9 Settings

There are a couple of ways to access Galaxy S9 settings, for example

Using the Settings app icon in Galaxy S9 Home screen.
Using the Settings app icon in Galaxy S9 Apps screen.
Using the Settings button (gear) in Galaxy S9 notification panel.
Using the Settings button in Galaxy S9 quick settings panel.
Using a Bixby voice command.

Step 2: Go to lock screen and security settings

In Galaxy S9 Settings page, as shown below, tap Lock screen and Security.

Step 3: Change screen lock type

In lock screen and security setting page, as shown in the screenshot above and continued below, you can find all settings related to Galaxy S9 lock screen for Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Tap Screen lock type (marked as 1) as shown above to change Galaxy S9 lock screen security type.

As shown above, you can find there are 5 types of Galaxy S9 lock screen security:

Swipe (no security);
Pattern (medium security);
PIN (medium to high security);
Password (high security);
None.

If you set Galaxy S9 lock screen security as “swipe”, then you just need to swipe to unlock.

If you set it to none, there will be no lock screen at all.

To use fingerprint, iris scanner, or face recognition or intelligent scan, you must set lock screen security as PIN or password first.

Some apps, like Samsung Pay or Google Pay, may also require you to set lock screen security as pattern, PIN or password.

How to customize and change app shortcuts in Galaxy S9 lock screen?

By default, there are two app shortcuts in the bottom of Galaxy S9 lock screen. The phone app is in the left side and the camera app in the right side.

When the phone is locked, the phone app allows you to make emergency calls depending on local regulations.

You can also use the camera app when Galaxy S9 is locked.

In this case, as explained in this guide, you can check photos taken in this session only. You cannot access other photos or pictures saved on the phone before you unlock the phone.

If you don’t want to have apps on the lock screen, you can disable them.

You can also assign any apps to the two spots.

To change or customize the app shortcuts in Galaxy S9 lock screen, you may tap App shortcuts (marked as 2 ) in the lock screen and security settings page shown earlier.

In the app shortcuts page, as shown below, you can find a preview screen and two buttons for the left shortcut and the right shortcut.

You can use the two buttons to disable apps in Galaxy S9 lock screen or to customise app shortcuts in the lock screen.

For example, you can tap the left shortcut to customise the spot on the left side of the bottom of Galaxy S9 lock screen.

As shown above, you can choose any apps to replace the phone app.

But you should know that most apps cannot be used unless the phone is unlocked.

For example, you use the Calculator app to replace the Phone app. When the screen is locked, you swipe the calculator app icon to the right (or upwards), it will ask you to unlock the phone first unless you set the lock screen security as the swipe (which is not recommended).

You can tap the On switch to turn off the app shortcuts in the bottom left of the Galaxy S9 lock screen as shown below.

If you turn off the app shortcuts in Galaxy S9 lock screen, as shown above, you find the spot is empty now.

Similarly, you can customize or disable app shortcuts in the bottom right of the Galaxy S9 lock screen.

How to customize facewidgets in Galaxy S9 lock screen?

Many owners think there is only one page (the clock page) in Galaxy S9 lock screen.

This is not correct. You can have up to 4 pages (panels) for Galaxy S9 lock screen in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

You just need to swipe right or left to access other lock screen panels/pages, just like what you do in Galaxy S9 Home screen.

These Galaxy S9 lock screen panels are called facewidgets in Samsung phones.

To customize facewidgets in Galaxy S9 lock screen, tap clock and facewidgets (marked as 3) in the lock screen and security page as shown earlier.

In the clock and facewidgets page shown below, you can customize the clock style, add some info on the lock screen (to greet yourself, or to let the people who pick your phone to call you).

Tap FaceWidgets to customize Galaxy S9 lock screen,

In the Facewidgets page shown above, you can enable or disable 3 widgets:

Music controller.
Today’s schedule.
Next Alarm.

You can also recorder them. The lock screen always defaults to the clock page. You can swipe left to access the first facewidget, and swipe left to access the last facewidget.

The facewidgets in Galaxy S9 lock screen are shared between Galaxy S9 lock screen and Galaxy S9 always-on-display (AOD). They will use the same facewidgets. You can turn off facewidgets in any of them. But you cannot have different facewidgets in Galaxy S9 lock screen and Galaxy S9 AOD screen.

If you are using a Galaxy S9 clear view cover, it will always use facewidget setting for Galaxy S9 lock screen as explained in this guide.

How to customize notifications in Galaxy S9 lock screen?

By default, Galaxy S9 lock screen will show all notifications.

You can turn off notifications in Galaxy S9 lock screen.

You can also customize the notifications in Galaxy S9 lock screen:

Hide notification contents;
Show notification icons only;
Show notifications from certain apps only
Show notifications from certain notification channels (categories) of certain apps;
Turn off notifications.

To customize notifications in Galaxy S9 lock screen, tap Notifications (marked as 4) in the lock screen and security settings page shown earlier.

The switch on the right side of Notifications is for you to turn on/off notifications instantly. You can customize notifications in the lock screen only after you turn on the notifications.

In the notifications page shown in the following two screenshots, you can find all possible notification customization for the lock screen.

First, you can preview current notification settings in Galaxy S9 lock screen.

If you tap hide contents and enable it, you will not see notification contents unless you unlock Galaxy S9 or S9+. You need to check the notifications in the notification panel.

If you enable notification icons only, you will only see notification icons in Galaxy S9 lock screen, no app name, no notification contents.

Auto-reverse colour should be always on. It will adjust the text colour based on the background.

The transparency controls the background of the notification. By default, the background of notifications in Galaxy S9 lock screen is white.

If you set the transparency to the lowest (leftmost), the white background will cover your lock screen wallpaper completely. If you set it the highest (rightmost), the white background of notification will disappear, and notifications will be shown on the lock screen wallpaper directly.

Galaxy S9 and S9+ allow you to customize the notifications on the lock screen further.

Tap Show notifications from, as shown above, you can then choose:

Show or hide notifications from individual apps.
Show or hide notifications from individual notification channels(categories).

As shown in the screenshot below, you can precisely control the notifications on Galaxy S9 lock screen.

Notification channel (category) is a new feature in Android Oreo. You may check this guide for using notification channels.

Similar to facewidget settings, notification settings are shared between Galaxy S9 lock screen and AOD screen.

You can tap Where to show to specify the notification settings are for:

Lock screen and always on display;
Lock screen only;
Always on display screen only.

Update: after you update Galaxy S9 or S9+ to Android Pie, you can use the lockdown mode to stop showing notifications on the lock screen. If the lockdown mode is triggered, you will also have to use PIN/password/pattern to unlock the phone and you cannot use biometric unlock or smart lock, as explained in this guide.