Samsung has disabled the Notification Categories feature by default starting with One UI 6.1, making it harder to access per-app alert controls in current versions, according to Android Police.
This feature allows users to block or allow specific types of notifications within an app. It’s still available in One UI 8.5 on current Galaxy devices, but must be found through a search and enabled manually.
The feature is Samsung’s equivalent to the notification channels system on Pixel and stock Android.
Notification Categories: Functionality and Accessibility Challenges
Notification categories allow users to filter specific alert types within an app, rather than enabling or disabling all notifications. For example, Android Police notes that users can keep forecast updates and breaking news from Samsung News and Google, while blocking sports scores or indications from Gemini Live.
The feature also works with third-party apps. Android Police explains that it can be used to allow essential direct messages and alerts from apps like TikTok or Instagram, while blocking spam and video recommendations. Notification Categories differs from the new Notification Highlights tool in that it is an older, standalone utility for managing alerts.
Samsung disabled notification categories by default starting with One UI 6.1, and the settings are now located in several submenu layers.
Android Police reports that finding it requires using AI-powered search in the Settings app, which returns two results: a built-in toggle within Galaxy Themes and a separate “Manage notification categories for each app” option. The correct settings are found in Advanced Settings with Other Notification Toggles.
Android Police notes that settings are easy to access only if users know the exact search terms; Otherwise, it is difficult to locate.
How to enable notification categories and what to pay attention to
To activate How to enable notification categories and key considerations in recent One UI:
- Open the Settings app.
- Search for “notification categories” and select “Manage notification categories for each app” instead of the Galaxy Themes option.
- Enable the feature in Advanced Settings in notification controls.
- Configure each app individually, as the feature requires per-app configuration instead of a centralized page.
- Access an app’s categories directly from the notification panel when an alert appears. Android Police notes that this is faster than browsing the app list in Settings.
On Pixel and standard Android devices, the equivalent feature is Notification Organizer, which can be accessed via Settings, then Notifications, then App Notifications, then Notification Organizer.
The main drawback is that each app’s notification toggles must be configured individually, which Android Police describes as a time-consuming task.
Samsung does not offer cross-device syncing for notification preferences, so this process must be repeated on each Galaxy phone or tablet.
Android Police notes that using notification categories with featured notifications, which uses AI to summarize and prioritize notifications, reduces the number of apps that require manual configuration.
However, full AI filtering via Featured Notifications is only available on newer flagship models, so older and mid-range Galaxy devices don’t have this option.
Samsung has not announced plans to re-enable notification categories by default in future versions of One UI or to add cross-device syncing for notification preferences.
Users setting up multiple Galaxy devices should expect to repeat the setup per app on each device until Samsung changes this behavior. The feature is still available in current versions of One UI, so users can continue to enable it manually after each device setup.
