After a few months of waiting, Samsung's 2021 and 2022 flagship phones have finally started getting the highly anticipated One UI 6.1 update with Galaxy AI features. Yesterday, Samsung began the One UI 6.1 rollout for the Galaxy Z3 and Z4 lineups, the Galaxy S21 series, and the Galaxy S22 trio of 2022 flagships.

At the moment, the One UI 6.1 update is available only in Korea, but it should reach more markets soon, even though Samsung may have halted the update for the Galaxy S22 due to alleged boot issues.

In any case, this firmware release brings many new features and at least one under-the-hood change you need to be aware of if you're a latecomer to One UI 6.1 and are now waiting for this fresh release.

Without further ado, here are the first things you should do once you get One UI 6.1 on your 2021 or 2022 high-end phone.

Bring back Notification Categories

One of the One UI 6.1 update's quirks is that it hides the Notification Categories menu, preventing users from managing notification types on the go.

As you probably know, the brilliant Notification Categories feature lets One UI users choose which notification types they can receive from apps individually. For example, it lets you turn off miscellaneous and marketing notifications for apps while keeping other, more important notification types enabled.

More so, this feature lets users manage notification types on the fly by tapping and holding a notification they don't like and turning it off with just a few screen taps.

Although this feature is now hidden in One UI 6.1, it still exists, and you can bring it back. To do this, open the Settings app, access “Notifications,” go to “Advanced settings,” and tap the “Manage notification categories for each app” toggle ON.

Beware the missing Samsung gestures

One other change you need to be aware of once you update your phone to One UI 6.1 is that Samsung navigation gestures are gone. The only remaining options are on-screen nav buttons and the arguably superior Google navigation gestures.

However, if you prefer Samsung gestures and you're actively using them, you won't be able to once you update to One UI 6.1. But fortunately, there is a way to re-enable them.

You can bring Samsung gestures back through the NavStar Good Lock module, regardless of whether or not you're in a market where Good Lock is supported. Check out our full guide for more details on how to use Samsung gestures in One UI 6.1.

Try these Galaxy AI features

On the more enjoyable side of things, the One UI 6.1 update brings Galaxy AI to your older flagship phone. For 2022 Galaxy flagships, the AI suite consists of almost everything that debuted with the Galaxy S24 series, except for Instant Slow Mo inside the Gallery app.

For 2021 flagships, things look a bit sadder, as it seems like there's only one Galaxy AI feature available for the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Z Flip 3, and Galaxy S21 series, and that is Circle to Search.

Once you get One UI 6.1, you'll probably want to try some Galaxy AI tools before others. We recommend taking Generative Wallpaper, Generative Edit, and Circle to Search for a spin.

• To access Generative Edit, pinch the home screen, go to “Wallpaper and style,” tap “Change wallpapers,” select “Generative” under the Creative category, and start generating AI wallpapers based on keywords.
• To use Generative Edit, open the Gallery app, select an image you want to edit, tap the pencil-shaped button, and then press the Generative AI icon that looks like a couple of stars on a blue gradient background. Check our review for all you need to know about Generative AI.
• To use Circle to Search, simply tap and hold the home button/gesture handle and then circle around or tap objects on the screen to view relevant web searches. It's that simple.

Galaxy AI brings a few other tools you may try, albeit they are focused more on productivity. As long as you are using a 2022 flagship model with One UI 6.1, you can summarize articles in Samsung Internet and Samsung Notes, use the new AI-powered Interpreter, translate calls on the fly, and even change the tone of your messages with Chat Assist.

Lastly, you should keep in mind that you can manage most of these new Galaxy AI features individually by opening the Settings app, accessing “Advanced features,” and tapping “Advanced intelligence.”

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Circle to Search is one of the most talked about AI features available on One UI 6.1, the version of One UI that introduced the Galaxy AI experience to Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

With Circle to Search, you can circle or highlight any images or text you see on their screen to instantly search for them on Google, without leaving the current app you're using. Circle to Search replaces Google Assistant as the default way of asking Google to look things up for you on the internet from any app or screen on the device and can be accessed by long pressing the home button.

The Galaxy S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra were the first Samsung devices to come preloaded with Circle to Search, and Samsung later made it available for older Galaxy flagships through the One UI 6.1 update. Circle to Search also received an interesting new feature that some may find more useful than the search functionality: instant language translation.

How to instantly translate on-screen text using Circle to Search

Whether you’re reading text on a website in your phone’s browser or viewing a PDF file, Circle to Search can instantly translate that text to different languages with a press of a button.

It’s a simple yet effective feature, and here’s how you can use it on a compatible Galaxy smartphone or tablet:

Step 1: Long press the home button to bring up Circle to Search when you come across text that you wish to translate.

Step 2: Tap the language translation button (highlighted in the screenshot below).

Step 3: Select the target language to which you want to translate the original text. The language of the original text will be auto detected by Google, but you can manually change the source language as well if the auto detection doesn't work.

Step 4: As soon as you select the target language, Google will show you the translated text (we translated English to Dutch for the purpose of this guide, and the result can be seen in the screenshot below).

Once the on-screen text has been translated, you can tap any word in the translated text to instantly look it up on Google. You can also copy that word or any part of the text to the clipboard for pasting in other apps.

Not seeing the translate button? Your Google app may need updating

Circle to Search is part of the Google app that comes preloaded on all Android phones, and if you don't see the language translation button when long pressing the home button to bring up Circle to Search, you may need to update the Google app on your device.

You can see all the app updates available for your device by opening the Play Store app, tapping your profile icon, and selecting Manage apps and device. Some new features can also require a server-side update, so you may have to wait a few days for the translate option to show up even after updating the Google app.

Which devices support Circle to Search?

Circle to Search is only available for Galaxy devices that have received the One UI 6.1 update with Galaxy AI. Those include all of Samsung's flagship smartphones and tablets from 2023 and 2022, and you can check out the full list of devices that support Galaxy AI or will get Galaxy AI in the future here.

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The Galaxy S24 series is chock-full of Galaxy AI features, some of which have not even been advertised. Nevertheless, these clever Advanced Intelligence technologies from Samsung exist and can open up new and interesting possibilities if you know where to find them.

Here's one you might not be aware of. Samsung added a new AI-powered Gallery feature that can turn any Motion Photos captured with the Galaxy S24 into long-exposure photos. Here's all you need to know.

Motion Photos can now be long-exposure photos

When the Motion Photo option is turned on in the Camera viewfinder, your Galaxy S24 captures a short video alongside your photo. And now, with the power of AI, these short videos, a.k.a. Motion Photos, can be turned into long-exposure photos via the Gallery app.

Below is our short TikTok video demonstrating how you can take advantage of this AI tool on your Galaxy S24. Make sure you check it out and stay tuned for more tips and tricks.

@sammobileofficial

Galaxy S24 Long Exposure HACK! #galaxys24 #samsungtips #samsungmobile #samsunggalaxy #galaxyai #fyp #foryoupage

♬ original sound – SamMobile Official

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Included in the Galaxy AI suite for the Galaxy S24 series is a Generative Wallpaper tool. You may have heard of it, and it is one of the funner sides of Galaxy AI for Samsung's latest flagships. If you already have used Generative Wallpapers on your Galaxy S24, here's a neat little trick you might want to try.

Fun fact: The wallpapers generated by the AI on the Galaxy S24 are wider than they appear. They're not precise 19.5:9 rectangular images. They contain more AI-generated scenery than it seems, but they're cropped to fit the Galaxy S24's home screen.

Unfortunately, because Samsung doesn't offer an option to save these Generative Wallpapers as image files, and because they don't appear in the Gallery, you can't view the whole AI-generated picture at once. But if you are having fun with these AI wallpapers, there is a way to see more than meets the eye.

View Generative Wallpapers in landscape mode

It turns out that Generative Wallpapers for the Galaxy S24 series are optimized for both portrait and landscape modes. Better yet, landscape wallpapers are not just cropped versions of portrait wallpapers.

If you allow your Galaxy S24's home screen to show content in landscape mode and rotate your phone 45 degrees, you will see that your AI-generated wallpapers are wider than they appear in portrait mode. Take a look at the examples below.

Wallpapers viewed in landscape mode are cropped at the top and bottom, but they will show more content to the sides — content you'll never see in portrait orientation.

As far as we can tell, this is the only official way to get a more complete view of the wallpapers you can generate with the help of AI on the Galaxy S24 series. But hopefully, Samsung will add more settings and options soon.

Until then, if you want to have a bit more fun with your AI wallpapers, you can try this trick by pinching the home screen, accessing “Settings” by tapping the cogwheel icon, and turning on the “Rotate to landscape mode” option.

If you are going to generate more AI wallpapers on your Galaxy S24, keep in mind that there is a limit of 15 wallpapers you can create before old designs are replaced by new ones.

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The SmartThings app is the centerpiece of any Samsung IoT ecosystem that contains multiple devices. Galaxy phone and tablet users rely on the SmartThings app to control various aspects of their Samsung setups, from smart TVs to wearables and Bespoke home appliances, as well as services, routines, scenes and more.

But here's a quick tip you might be unaware of. Did you know there's a much easier and faster way to control your SmartThings device ecosystem than by opening the SmartThings app? Here's all you need to know.

Control your SmartThings ecosystem without opening the app

Once you have everything set in SmartThings, you can control devices, routines, scenes and more from your Galaxy phone's or tablet's quick panel. You don't even have to open the SmartThings app if you don't want to.

Here's how you can do this on mobile devices that run the latest One UI versions, such as the Galaxy S24.

Swipe the status bar down twice (or once using two fingers) to access the quick toggle area. Then, tap the rectangular “Device Control” button. That's all! You can now control your SmartThings devices, routines, services, scenes, and more from this quick panel area. And there's a convenient “Open app” button if you really want to dive deeper into the SmartThings mobile app.

As you may have guessed, you can also customize this Device Control quick panel in One UI by adding other IoT platforms besides SmartThings, changing some security settings concerning the visibility of your SmartThings controls on the lock screen, and customizing which devices, scenes, services, and so on show up in the Device Control quick panel. Try experimenting with this feature and find your best setup.

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