7 surprising day-one S25 FE changes that made me love this phone

You’ve done it. You’ve unboxed your new Samsung Galaxy S25 FE. The S25 FE is fantastic, but its default One UI 8 software settings are designed for the most basic user, or in some cases, they’re just annoying.

This is a list of the five real fixes I made on day one. These are the settings that take the S25 FE from a good phone to a phone you truly love.

How to bring back the unified Notifications and Quick Panel

Out of the box, One UI 8 splits your notification panel, just like an iPhone. When you swipe down on the left side of the screen, you get notifications.

When you swipe down on the right side, you get your Quick Settings toggles (like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). It feels odd and unintuitive, especially when you try to use it with one hand.

Who wants to perform thumb gymnastics? This is a 15-second fix to get the classic, unified Android panel back:

1. Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open the full Quick Panel.
2. Tap the Pencil icon (the edit button) in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap Panel settings in the upper-left corner.
4. Change the setting from Separate to Together.

Stop Bixby or Gemini from hijacking your power button

You press and hold the power button on the side of your S25 FE, reasonably expecting to see the Power Off and Restart options.

Instead, you’re greeted by Bixby or Google’s Gemini assistant. This is a horrible UX decision. It hijacks a fundamental function. Let’s reclaim that button:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Advanced features.
3. Tap the Side key (that’s Samsung’s name for the power button).
4. You’ll see a section called Long press.
5. Change the setting from Wake Bixby (or Launch Gemini) to Power off menu.

Turn your app drawer into an organized, vertical list

Swipe up from your home screen to see all your apps. You see a multipage grid of icons, sorted by some mystery rule.

This is the default Custom order, which means you have to manually drag apps around and try to remember which page you put which app on.

It’s slow, it’s disorganized, and it feels like a relic from 2010. Here’s how to change the layout from horizontal pages to a vertical list:

1. Open your App Drawer
2. Tap the 3-dot menu icon in the search bar at the top.
3. Tap Sort.
4. Select Alphabetical order.

All your apps are now in a vertical-scrolling list. And the best part? Look at the right edge. There’s a new alphabet scrubber. Tap the letter W to jump to WhatsApp.

The underrated Edge panel saves you dozens of taps

You have to jump back to your home screen or dig through the app drawer every time you want to open your calculator, messages, or favorite contacts.

It’s a lot of tapping and swiping for the apps you use a dozen times a day. Your phone has a sidebar called Edge panels, but it’s often turned off by default. Let’s fix that.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Display.
3. Scroll down, tap Edge panels, then activate it.
4. (Recommended) Tap Panels right below it and make sure the Apps and “People” panels are selected.

You’ll now see a small, translucent handle on the side of your screen. Swipe it and the speed dial of your favorite apps and contacts slides out.

Change this setting to recover accidentally dismissed notifications

You’re in a hurry. Your phone vibrates. You see a notification, you think it’s just spam, and you swipe it away.

The instant it’s gone, your brain catches up. “Was that the two-factor auth code? Was it an alert from my bank?”

By default, there is no log. But there’s a fix for this, so it doesn’t happen again.

Notification History is one of the most important safety net features in all of Android, and it’s off by default. Let’s fix that immediately.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Notifications.
3. Tap Advanced settings.
4. Turn on the Notification history toggle at the top of the page.

From this moment, every notification that your phone receives and every notification you dismiss will be logged on this page.

Accidentally swiped away that message? Just come back here. You’ll see what it was, which app sent it, and when.

How to protect your battery from chemical aging

Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police | quietbits / Shutterstock

Galaxy 25 FE has fantastic hardware and a 4,900mAh battery with 45W wired fast charging. But here’s a hard truth. If you charge it to 100% every single night, you are actively damaging it.

It’s called chemical aging. Keeping a lithium-ion battery at a high state of charge (like 80 to 100%) puts stress on its internals and permanently reduces its capacity over time.

The default setting is to charge up to 100%. This is great for tomorrow. It’s terrible for next year. Samsung knows this is a problem, and they’ve built a solution that is turned off by default.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Battery.
3. Tap Battery protection and select the Maximum option.

With a brand-new 4,900mAh battery, you will not even notice the difference in battery life. You will still end your day with plenty of juice.

But the real payoff comes in 2026 or 2027. Your friend’s phone (who left this off) will be dead by 3 PM.

Yours will still be going strong. You’ve just added years to your phone’s lifespan with this one, 10-second change.

Level up your S25 FE with Good Lock modules

Already, your phone feels miles better. You’re content for now. But if you want more, that’s where things get interesting.

You can change the color of your quick toggles, hide the NFC icon from the status bar, and truly make the phone yours.

There’s an app called Good Lock, which is Samsung’s hidden toolkit for people who want more control.

You have to download it from the Galaxy Store. Here’s a taste of what Good Lock can do.

QuickStar

This is a module that lets you completely re-theme your Quick Panel. You can turn off the icons you don’t need and theme the panel with your own colors for the background, toggles, and text.

NotiStar

Android’s Notification History feature does the job, but it forgets everything after 24 hours. NotiStar gives you more control by keeping all your notifications in a searchable log. You set how long they stay and sort them by app or keyword.

NavStar

Another module that lets you customize your navigation bar. If you use the classic three buttons, you can change the icons to anything you want. If you use the gesture handle at the bottom, you can change its color and size.

Turn good hardware into a great experience

That’s it. You’re done. The out-of-the-box software experience was not optimal. But with these five simple changes and one app download, you’ve fixed that. Now, your Galaxy S25 FE truly feels like yours.

SoC

Exynos 2400 Deca-Core (4nm)

RAM

8GB

Storage

128GB

Battery

4,900mAh

Operating System

Android

Dimensions

161.3 x 76.6 x 7.4mm

The SE25 FE offers an affordable alternative to the main flagship line, offering the same beautiful display for less.