Samsung will finally let third-party developers harness the Now Bar for their Android apps when One UI 8 rolls out this year.
When Samsung rolled out the Now Bar with its Live Notifications in One UI 7, many of us were impressed. It looked slick and offered useful at-a-glance information. However, then came the crushing realisation that it only worked with Samsung’s own apps and a handful of Google services including Maps and Sports.
Thankfully, it appears Samsung has listened to the collective groaning of its user base around the initial Now Bar limitations. The eagle-eyed observers at Android Authority have spotted a telling developer option in the latest One UI 8 beta that enables “Live notifications for all apps,” effectively confirming Samsung’s plans to integrate with Android 16’s new “Live Updates” framework.
Once implemented, Android developers will be able to push persistent, real-time updates to the status bar, lock screen, and Now Bar without requiring users to constantly unlock their phone or dive into apps.
In other words, Samsung is finally doing what they should have done from the start. The Now Bar was always brilliant in concept but hobbled by being limited to first-party apps. Opening it up makes it far more useful.
None of this is too surprising. At their recent I/O conference, Google even briefly demonstrated an Uber Eats notification expanding within Samsung’s Now Bar. However, it’s nice to see more confirmation in the One UI 8 beta that the feature is on track.
The integration means we’ll soon see all sorts of practical applications—tracking your Deliveroo order while your phone sits on the table, keeping an eye on your Uber’s arrival time from the lock screen, or checking live football scores without interrupting your current task.
Samsung’s ambitions don’t stop with phones, either. The ongoing One UI 8 Watch beta suggests the Now Bar is heading to Galaxy smartwatches around 2026, aligning with Google’s roadmap for bringing Live Updates to Wear OS devices.
For developers, particularly those whose Android apps and services benefit from real-time updates, this presents a brilliant opportunity. By adopting Android 16’s Live Updates APIs, they’ll be able to keep users engaged without sending those annoying repeated notifications that we all end up muting anyway.
By adopting Android’s standardised approach rather than going it alone with a proprietary system, Samsung’s making life easier for developers while improving the experience for users.
If you’re a Samsung user who’s been frustrated by the Now Bar’s limited functionality, hold tight—the feature you were promised is finally on its way. And if you’re a developer, it might be worth getting familiar with Android 16’s Live Updates documentation sooner rather than later.
See also: Official group aims for Swift language support on Android
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