How to declutter a new Samsung Galaxy phone
First 7 things I did to reduce clutter on my Samsung Galaxy phone.
As a new Android user coming from iPhone, many areas can feel more cluttered than they should be.
In this article, I share the first settings and changes I made to achieve a cleaner phone setup.
Change Navigation bar to "Swipe gestures"
Turn off "Media page"
Uninstall unnecessary apps
Customize Quick Settings menu
Turn off notifications for non-essential apps
Turn off "App icon badges"
Turn off app recommendations
The following steps and naming conventions are based on Samsung Galaxy devices and may vary across other Android models.
1. Change Navigation bar to “Swipe gestures”
The navigation buttons that come as default can clutter your screen and lead to misclicks, especially when using apps that also have a bottom navigation bar like Notion.
This is why I prefer the alternative "Swipe gestures."
Navigate to Settings > Display > Navigation bar to change from "Buttons" to "Swipe gestures."
2. Turn off "Media Page"
When you swipe right on your home screen, it opens up a media page that shows you the latest news.
You can turn it off by holding down anywhere on your home screen to go into editing mode, then swiping right and toggling off the Media Page.
3. Uninstall unnecessary apps
When you first open your new Android phone, you might find plenty of apps already pre-installed, even though you didn't transfer anything.
You can press and hold any app to reveal the option to uninstall it.
4. Customize Quick Settings menu
You open the quick settings panel by swiping down from the top right corner of your screen. This is where you toggle on and off things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness, and more.
Since there are several controls, put the ones you frequently use at the top and remove or move further back any controls you rarely use.
5. Turn off notifications for non-essential apps
Personally, I find notifications can create a false sense of urgency, so I prefer to keep them off for most apps except for actually time-sensitive matters like calls, messages, or calendar events.
Go to Settings > Apps and open or search for the app to configure notifications for. Then tap on Notifications to turn off notifications for an app.
6. Turn off “App icon badges”
A badge icon is a visual indicator that appears on the corner of an app icon that signifies new notifications or updates within that app.
Similar to notifications, I don't want to feel inclined to open my apps unnecessarily but rather check them on my own schedule. That's why I prefer to disable app icon badges.
Go to Settings > Home screen and look for the "App icon badges" option to toggle off.
7. Turn off app recommendations
On the Recent page, where you go back to previous apps you were using, you might notice some suggested apps at the bottom.
To turn these off, open the Recents page, tap the three vertical dots at the top, then tap Settings, and toggle off "Show recommended apps."
