Samsung S25/ S25 Ultra

[mjschabow]

I would like to move to YT Music as well. But I have the Apple Music family plan and my boys use AM and they are not willing to switch.....they seemed horrified at the suggestion lol

Haha we are in the same boat. My teenage daughter told me that if I ever cancel that plan, she'll run away. I do still like apple music and probably prefer it over everything else. The only thing that sucks is that there's not an app for the Galaxy Watch and doesn't seem like it will ever be truly compatible with Gemini. But at the same time it's not that hard to open up the app and just play music. First world problems.

 

[mjschabow]

@jamezr and other Apple Music users. Just found this and confirmed it works. Pretty cool!


Use Action Blocks, as suggested by another user, and the URL for your playlist that Apple Music can generate.

First, open Apple Music and open the main Playlist menu. Tap and hold on the appropriate playlist to open the option menu. Choose "Share" and then "Copy Link". Close Apple Music.

Install Action Blocks from the Play Store. It's a Google app. Open it and "Create new Action Block". One of the preset options is "Open a Link", although you might have to click "See more common actions" if it doesn't show in the initial set of tiles. Paste the Apple link. You will be invited to "Test" the link at this point and, providing all is well, the Action Blocks app will ask you to give the Action a name and then invite you to add it to your home screen. It's all quite intuitive.

Boom. You now have a shortcut to your playlist.

One downside is that the widget on the home screen doesn't look particularly exciting but, for my purpose at least, I don't care. You might also need to resize it but, again, I don't care because in my case the bigger the better.

 

[SteveJUAE]

@jamezr and other Apple Music users. Just found this and confirmed it works. Pretty cool!


Use Action Blocks, as suggested by another user, and the URL for your playlist that Apple Music can generate.

First, open Apple Music and open the main Playlist menu. Tap and hold on the appropriate playlist to open the option menu. Choose "Share" and then "Copy Link". Close Apple Music.

Install Action Blocks from the Play Store. It's a Google app. Open it and "Create new Action Block". One of the preset options is "Open a Link", although you might have to click "See more common actions" if it doesn't show in the initial set of tiles. Paste the Apple link. You will be invited to "Test" the link at this point and, providing all is well, the Action Blocks app will ask you to give the Action a name and then invite you to add it to your home screen. It's all quite intuitive.

Boom. You now have a shortcut to your playlist.

One downside is that the widget on the home screen doesn't look particularly exciting but, for my purpose at least, I don't care. You might also need to resize it but, again, I don't care because in my case the bigger the better.

This is the sort of thing I like about Android there always seems some way or method or workaround to suit the various options or preferences some want, opposed to a brick wall

 

[jamezr]

This is the sort of thing I like about Android there always seems some way or method or workaround to suit the various options or preferences some want, opposed to a brick wall

or a paywall!

 

[mjschabow]

Here's the shortcut I was talking about. Super easy, I have one stack for my favorite artists, and another stack for my favorite playlists. I clicked them and they come right up!

 

[mjschabow]

This is the sort of thing I like about Android there always seems some way or method or workaround to suit the various options or preferences some want, opposed to a brick wall

100%, and the cool thing that I've come to learn is that Android now has processes and apps that require less clicks and are simpler than Apple. The "Apple Pull" has always been ease of use, but I'm finding that to be the opposite. A lot of the stock Google and Samsung apps are actually easier to use than Apple's apps. Photos is a wonderful example of this. In fact, the one Apple app that I still prefer over Android is Apple Music, because it's an easier to use interface and faster to get to the music I want to play than Spotify/YT. My fear is that Apple will overcook this app too since they seem to be doing that with a lot of their other apps.

 

[applefanb0y]

What sort of battery life are you guys getting? Share screenshots if you can!

 

[Dave245]

Is anyone else finding bugs in One UI 7? I've had a few now including this lock screen one that I've attached a screenshot of.

One UI 7 seems a giant mess 🙄, the battery life is worse than before and laggy. Some of the Goodlock apps are even more buggy and the camera is taking grainy photos.

 

[Ludatyk]

In fact, the one Apple app that I still prefer over Android is Apple Music, because it's an easier to use interface and faster to get to the music I want to play than Spotify/YT. My fear is that Apple will overcook this app too since they seem to be doing that with a lot of their other apps.

Well… using Apple Music on the Galaxy Fold is a different story, Apple still have the same UI layout that was introduced in iOS 10 (back in 2016).

I think it’s important for Apple to have cohesion and consistency… it’s weird jumping between two different platforms and seeing different layouts. I understand there is design element rules set across OS's, but if I load up Spotify and YT Music. They have the same layout on both the iPad and Galaxy Fold.
I much prefer using Apple Music on the iPad versus the Galaxy Fold... given it's much easier to navigate and has modern look to it.

 

[mjschabow]

Well… using Apple Music on the Galaxy Fold is a different story, Apple still have the same UI layout that was introduced in iOS 10 (back in 2016).

View attachment 2502361

I think it’s important for Apple to have cohesion and consistency… it’s weird jumping between two different platforms and seeing different layouts. I understand there is design element rules set across OS's, but if I load up Spotify and YT Music. They have the same layout on both the iPad and Galaxy Fold.
I much prefer using Apple Music on the iPad versus the Galaxy Fold... given it's much easier to navigate and has modern look to it.

This never would have happened if Steve Jobs was still alive.

 

[Ludatyk]

This never would have happened if Steve Jobs was still alive.

I don't know about all that because Apple doesn't feel obligated to put the necessary resources behind Android platform... they only support to check the boxes.

I'm of the belief, it could be worst... they could have opted not to support Android entirely and if that was the case I would had no choice but to switch to YT Music or Spotify for the cross platform capabilities. Right now, I use YT Music occasional because of my YT Premium subscription.

Waiting for Google to introduce the family plan of YT Premium Lite (without the YT Music bundle), definitely jumping on that.

Is anyone else finding bugs in One UI 7? I've had a few now including this lock screen one that I've attached a screenshot of.

One UI 7 seems a giant mess 🙄, the battery life is worse than before and laggy. Some of the Goodlock apps are even more buggy and the camera is taking grainy photos.

Haven't had any bugs on the lock screen... nor any lagginess. Battery life could be better, but that's pretty much how I feel about everything these days lol.

 

[mjschabow]

I don't know about all that because Apple doesn't feel obligated to put the necessary resources behind Android platform... they only support to check the boxes.

I'm of the belief, it could be worst... they could have opted not to support Android entirely and if that was the case I would had no choice but to switch to YT Music or Spotify for the cross platform capabilities. Right now, I use YT Music occasional because of my YT Premium subscription.

Waiting for Google to introduce the family plan of YT Premium Lite (without the YT Music bundle), definitely jumping on that.


Haven't had any bugs on the lock screen... nor any lagginess. Battery life could be better, but that's pretty much how I feel about everything these days lol.

Oh haha I was just joking about the Steve Jobs thing. I just think it's funny when people say that.

I'm with you though, the minute YouTube Music adds a couple of basic features like being able to search within a playlist or getting a notification if you already added a song to the playlist, along with maybe just simplifying the app a little bit more to where it doesn't take a bunch of clicks to get to where you want to go, and I'm jumping ship.

 

[Harthag]

Is anyone else finding bugs in One UI 7? I've had a few now including this lock screen one that I've attached a screenshot of.

One UI 7 seems a giant mess 🙄, the battery life is worse than before and laggy. Some of the Goodlock apps are even more buggy and the camera is taking grainy photos.

View attachment 2502362

Do you have the S24U? If so you may be experiencing what this article mentions.

One UI 7 rollout pause raises serious concerns!

The stable One UI 7.0 update release was halted globally due to a critical bug, and that raises serious concerns about Samsung's testing.

www.sammobile.com

Unlock bug may have forced Samsung to halt One UI 7 update release

Samsung has reportedly halted the release of the stable One UI 7.0 (Android 15) update due to a bug related to screen unlock.

www.sammobile.com

I am slowly...very slowly losing confidence in Samsung as they are reverting to the Samsung of old in terms of how they handle updates. There will be no excuse come June or July for any S or Z series device to still be on Android 14 when 16 is launched.

 

[Dave245]

Do you have the S24U? If so you may be experiencing what this article mentions.

One UI 7 rollout pause raises serious concerns!

The stable One UI 7.0 update release was halted globally due to a critical bug, and that raises serious concerns about Samsung's testing.

www.sammobile.com

Ah ok, yea it's still the S24 Ultra. I only mentioned it in here to see if others are having the same issues.

So Samsung have halted One UI 7 temporarily over this

 

[Harthag]

Ah ok, yea it's still the S24 Ultra. I only mentioned it in here to see if others are having the same issues.

So Samsung have halted One UI 7 temporarily over this

Appears so, I haven't run into any issues on the S25U. At this point why even pretend to care about releasing OneUI 7, just own the incompetence and launch 8.0 alongside Android 16 in a few months. But we all know that won't happen.

 

[mjschabow]

I haven't seen it mentioned, but it would be awesome if they fixed the bug where if you clear all notifications, the NowBar goes away.

Galaxy S25 April 2025 software update fixes media playback Now Bar widget

The April 2025 software update for the Galaxy S25 lineup brings one of One UI 7's best features in addition to security fixes.

www.sammobile.com

 

[Sensamic]

Seems like having less features for One UI 8 might accelerate the update rollout. Otherwise, it's nice previous phone will get Now Brief also. There was not much reason for it to be exclusive to the S25.

 

[robvalentine]

Here's the shortcut I was talking about. Super easy, I have one stack for my favorite artists, and another stack for my favorite playlists. I clicked them and they come right up!

View attachment 2502287

Up the biff!

 

[mjschabow]

Up the biff!

My favorite band of all time!

 

[mjschabow]

Seems like having less features for One UI 8 might accelerate the update rollout. Otherwise, it's nice previous phone will get Now Brief also. There was not much reason for it to be exclusive to the S25.

I'm definitely cool with a less feature packed but stability/refinement update. I think that's a good strategy.

 

[jamezr]

Samsung is a little late on the April security update.

Samsung Galaxy S25 gets April 2025 update with new One UI 7 features​

Breaking: Samsung Galaxy S25 gets April 2025 update with new One UI 7 features

Samsung has begun rolling out the April 2025 security update for Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphones. The update is live for users in Korea, and the company will expand it soon to more countries. Users of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series in Korea can identify the April...

www.sammyfans.com

 

[applefanb0y]

No one wants to mention and share battery life?

 

[SteveJUAE]

Samsung is a little late on the April security update.

Samsung Galaxy S25 gets April 2025 update with new One UI 7 features​

Breaking: Samsung Galaxy S25 gets April 2025 update with new One UI 7 features

Samsung has begun rolling out the April 2025 security update for Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra smartphones. The update is live for users in Korea, and the company will expand it soon to more countries. Users of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series in Korea can identify the April...

www.sammyfans.com

My Fold 6 got April update security patch at same time as OUI 7, not sure it included the tweaks to animations noted in the article

Must say battery life seems 10% up and no issues with goodlock etc

 

[aggie99]

No one wants to mention and share battery life?

I think there's been plenty of mention of battery life here and elsewhere. Most people here have stated that they are seeing outstanding battery life. I'm averaging well over 8 hours SOT on a single charge and most of the time get over 9 hours while on mobile data, not wifi. I can stretch it further when I'm using wifi.

 

[mjschabow]

Yeah after the latest Google Play system update I'm getting between 7-8 hrs which is good enough for me. I haven't done anything to improve battery life like doing the Light Performance or anything. I want my phone to run as fast as it can.