Galaxy S9 notification panel

How to use quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+?

The most efficient way to change settings of Galaxy S9 and S9+ is to use Galaxy S9 quick setting button.

This Galaxy S9 guide explains everything you need to know about the quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+: what are Galaxy S9 quick setting buttons? How to access them, how to use them, and how to customize them.

What are quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+?

Like other Android phones, Galaxy S9 and S9+ have quick settings buttons on the top of notifications in Galaxy S9 notification panel.

The quick setting buttons allow you to instantly turn on or turn off some features quickly without entering the complicated settings page.

For example, you can turn on or turn off mobile data or Bluetooth using Galaxy S9 quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Since Android Nougat, stock Android also shows quick settings bar (the first a few quick setting buttons) in the notification panel, in addition to the full list of quick setting buttons.

But Samsung added the quick settings bar in Galaxy phones long time back.

Anyway, quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+ were designed to help you use the phone easily and efficiently.

The first 6 Galaxy S9 quick setting buttons (sometimes, it is referred as quick settings bar) are shown above notifications in the notification panel as shown in this guide.

You can expand the list to show all quick settings buttons in Galaxy S9 notification panel.

How to access quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+?

There are two methods to access all quick setting buttons on Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Method 1: Swipe down from Galaxy S9 notification panel (or swipe down twice from the status bar)

In Galaxy S9 notification panel, you can swipe down, as shown below, to expand the quick setting buttons so that all buttons are shown.

When you are not in the notification panel, you can swipe down from the status bar twice to access the same Galaxy S9 quick setting buttons page.

Method 2: Swipe down from the status bar with two fingers

As shown above, you can swipe down from Galaxy S9 status bar with two fingers to access all quick setting buttons.

These two methods are identical in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

How to use quick setting buttons on

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How to use Galaxy S9 notification panel on Galaxy S9 and S9+?

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Galaxy S9 notification panel allows you to check, snooze, dismiss and manage all notifications on Galaxy S9 and S9+.

Without Android Oreo preloaded, Galaxy S9 and S9+ come with some new Android Oreo notification features like notification channels and notification snooze.

This Galaxy S9 guide explains to you what Galaxy S9 notification panel is, how to access it, the layout of the notification panel and how to use notification panel in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

What is Galaxy S9 notification panel?

Like other Android phones, Galaxy S9 notification panel is an integrated part of Galaxy S9 and S9+.

There is no way to avoid it. You can access Galaxy S9 notification panel regardless what you are doing on the phone.

Galaxy S9 notification panel is a centralized location for all app notifications in Galaxy S9 and S9+. In other words, all apps “post” or push their notifications to the notification panel.

Apps can send or push notifications even when you do not use the app in the foreground.

In short, Galaxy S9 notification panel is a special panel for you to check, dismiss, snooze and manage all notifications in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

How to access Galaxy S9 notification panel?

You can swipe down from the status bar to access Galaxy S9 notification panel, as illustrated below.

If the status bar is hidden (e.g., when you are in full-screen mode), you can just swipe down from the top of the screen.

You can access Galaxy S9 notification panel even when the screen is locked. Of course, in Galaxy S9 lock screen settings, you can choose how notifications are shown.

In Galaxy S9 and S9+, there is another way to access Galaxy S9 notification panel quickly on Galaxy S9 Home screen. The feature was named as quick-open notification panel.

You can swipe down on Galaxy S9 Home screen to access Galaxy S9 notification panel. This method, however, is turned off by default. You need to enable it.

In fact, by default, when you swipe up or swipe down in Galaxy S9 Home screen, you will access Galaxy S9 Apps screen.

To use the swipe down gesture for Galaxy S9 notification panel, you need to enable it Galaxy S9 Settings.

As shown below, in Galaxy S9 settings, tap Display.

In the Display page, tap Home screen, as shown in the screenshot above.

In Home screen page, as … Read the rest

Understand and use Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots, app icon badge)

Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots, app icon badges) is entirely different from the old number badge. This guide shows you the detail.

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If you upgraded your old Galaxy phone to Galaxy S9 or S9+, you might be frustrated with the new Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots, aka Galaxy S9 app icon badges).

Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots) simply does not work like the old number badge with which you are familiar.

This Galaxy S9 guide explains the differences between Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots) and the old number badge and shows you how to customize Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots).

What is Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots)?

When you get a notification in Galaxy S9 notification panel, by default, you will find a number badge on the top right corner of the corresponding app icon in Galaxy S9 Home screen and Apps screen.

For example, as shown below, when you have 3 notifications for the Internet app (browser app), you will find the number (3) in the top right of the browser app icon.

This number badge is usually referred to as Galaxy S9 notification number badge. In old Galaxy phones, there has been a number badge which looks similar to Galaxy S9 notification number badge.

Because Galaxy S9 notification number badge corresponds to notification dots in stock Android, the notification number badge was sometimes referred as Galaxy S9 notification dots.

If you think the new Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots) is just a beautified version of the old number badge, you are then totally wrong.

What are the differences between Galaxy S9 notification number badge (notification dots) and the old number badge?

Although they look similar, Galaxy S9 notification number badge and the old number badge are two entirely different things.

The major differences include:

Galaxy S9 notification number badge is actually the notification dots introduced in Android Oreo. The old number badge in Samsung’s phones is Samsung’s proprietary implementation in TouchWiz (now Samsung Experience).
Galaxy S9 notification number badge directly links to notifications in Galaxy S9 notification panel. The old number badge is not linked to the notification panel.
Galaxy S9 notification number badge works for all apps. The old number badge only works with selected apps, usually Samsung apps and a few pre-installed apps.
Galaxy S9 notification number badge only counts notifications, nothing else. The old number badge may count both notifications and unread messages depending on apps.
For Galaxy S9 notification number

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How to use Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures?

Seven Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures: tap, double tap (and triple-tap), long tap, swipe, drag, pinch and spread, are explained and illustrated.

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You have to use some Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures if you want Galaxy S9 or S9+ to do anything for you.

Although most Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures work on all other Android phones, you may not be aware of some gestures that help you use Galaxy S9 and S9+ effectively.

This Galaxy S9 how-to guide illustrates the 7 Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures with animations, explains the features of these gestures and gives examples of using these gestures.

What are Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures?

As Galaxy S9 and S9+ do not have a physical keyboard or other input devices, you have to interact with the phone either through the touchscreen or voice (e.g., Bixby or Google Assistant).

In addition to the on-screen keyboard or keypad, Galaxy S9 and S9+ also accept some touchscreen gestures.

When your finger(s) or other capacitive pens move on the screen, Galaxy S9 and S9 can recognize certain patterns and therefore responds accordingly.

These moving patterns are usually referred to as Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures.

So, understanding and correctly using Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures are essential if you want to use the phone efficiently.

Similar to other Android phones, there is nothing special in Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures. These gestures can be used in almost all other Android phones.

Although most of Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures are used on the screen, some can also be used on the physical buttons. e.g., the power button accepts press, double press and long press gestures.

List of Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures in Galaxy S9 and S9+

You can use the following 7 Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures on Galaxy S9 and S9+ for various operations.

1. Tap gesture (press)

Tap is one of the most used Galaxy S9 touchscreen gestures.

As shown in the animation below, you need to tap an icon or a specific area to activate something, for example, to start an app, or to open a menu item.

The tap gesture actually mimics “click” of a mouse.

Of course, the action or response of the tap gesture depends on what was tapped, or where you tapped.

Some example of using tap gesture includes:

You can open an app by tapping an app icon in Galaxy S9 home screen or apps screen.
You can tap Home button to return to Galaxy S9 home screen.
You can tap Back button to return to the previous screen, or exit the

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Meaning of Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons in Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

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Understanding the meaning of Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons in Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will help you to use the phone efficiently.

You can get quick system info and new notifications by checking Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons in the status bar.

This Galaxy S9 guide explains the differences between Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons, and the meaning of these icons in the status bar in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

What is the difference between Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons?

Android uses the top of the screen as the status bar, where Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons are shown. It applies to Galaxy S9 Home screen, lock screen and all apps.

The following screenshot is an example of the Galaxy S9 status bar with notification icons on the left and status icons on the right. When you use Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode or any apps in landscape mode, the status bar is also in the top of the screen.

Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons give you the quick info about the system status (e.g., mobile network signal strength) and notifications from apps or the system.

When an app is in the immersive full-screen mode, the status bar will be hidden temporally. In this case, you can swipe down from the top of the screen to bring up Galaxy S9 status bar (and Galaxy S9 navigation bar as well)

The differences between Galaxy S9 status icons and notification icons include:

Galaxy S9 status icons are always related to the system; while Galaxy S9 notification icons are always linked to specific apps (including a few system apps and third-party apps).
Galaxy S9 status icons are normally shown on the right side of the status bar; while Galaxy S9 notification icons always appear on the left side of the status bar.
Galaxy S9 status icons are more or less universal in all regions; while Galaxy S9 notification icons depend on individual apps, whose developers can use whatever they want.

Typically, when you see an icon on the left side of the status bar in Galaxy S9 or S9+, there are usually at least one or more corresponding notifications in Galaxy S9 notification panel.

But if you see a Galaxy S9 status icon, there is seldom a corresponding notification.

Meaning of Galaxy S9 status icons and

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How to use Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode?

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Samsung added the Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

You can change Galaxy S9 home screen to landscape orientation when you hold Galaxy S9 and S9+ horizontally. Of course, this also applies to Galaxy S9 apps screen (app drawer), which essentially is a special home screen.

This Galaxy S9 guide explains what Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode is, how to enable and disable Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode, and how to use Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode.

What is Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode?

By default, the home screen (and apps screen) was always in portrait mode on most Android phones even if you hold the phone horizontally, and if you turn on auto-rotate.

So, it is hard to use the home screen in landscape mode, and you may have to hold the phone in portrait orientation to use the home screen and apps screen.

Please do not confuse this limitation in home screen with the auto-rotate.

Most apps including system apps like Settings support landscape mode for a long time. When you turn on auto-rotate, you can use most apps in the landscape orientation.

In Android tablet, since Android Honeycomb 3.0, the home screen landscape mode has been supported.

However, on the phone, home screen landscape mode is still new.

The larger screen aspect ratio beyond 16:9 in many recent flagship Android phones exacerbates the implementation of landscape mode for the home screen. The screen simply looks too narrow for the icons.

Anyway, Samsung now offers the option to use Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode in Galaxy S9 and S9+.

This means the Galaxy S9 home screen can automatically rotate to landscape mode when you hold the phone in landscape position.

Undoubtedly, the app icons and widgets in Galaxy S9 home screen will be re-organised in landscape mode. Simple rotation is not enough due to insufficient height in the landscape mode.

In a nutshell, Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode allows you to use Galaxy S9 home screen (apps screen) comfortably when you hold the phone horizontally.

For example, when you put Galaxy S9 in the clear view cover in kickstand mode to watch movies, you can easily switch to other apps without picking up the phone.

How to disable and enable Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode?

In some regions, Galaxy S9 home screen landscape mode is not … Read the rest