One UI 9 adds a dedicated home screen search bar to Galaxy phones, and it arrives switched on and pointed at Google. The row sits between the app grid and the dock — close to where the Pixel Launcher has kept its own search pill for years — and it is live now on the Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra and Z Flip8, the first three phones shipping with Samsung’s Android 17-based software.
What the One UI 9 home screen search bar actually does
A Google Search widget was already available to Galaxy owners before this, but it lived on the home screen the way any widget does, occupying part of the icon grid. One UI 9 promotes it into a proper piece of the launcher: a dedicated strip that sits below your apps rather than inside them, so it costs you no grid space.
Samsung has not locked it to one search provider. From the home screen settings panel you can set the strip to any of four states:
- Google Search only — the default configuration out of the box.
- Finder only — Samsung’s own on-device search, which digs through apps, settings, files and contacts rather than the web.
- Both — Google and Finder side by side.
- Neither — the strip is replaced by the home screen page indicator, giving the space back.
That last option is worth knowing about, because the Pixel Launcher does not offer it. On a Pixel, the search pill is part of the furniture. On a Galaxy running One UI 9, it is removable.
The default is the part to pay attention to
None of this is a scandal — the toggle is right there, and Samsung deserves some credit for shipping a real “off” switch. But it is worth naming what the default is doing. The strip ships enabled and set to Google, so every Galaxy phone that takes the One UI 9 update gets a permanent, always-visible web search entry point installed on its home screen unless the owner goes looking for the setting and turns it off. Samsung’s own Finder, which searches the phone rather than the internet, is the thing you have to opt into.
If you would rather your home screen not carry a search box you did not ask for, the fix takes about ten seconds. Open your home screen settings — on One UI that panel is reached by long-pressing an empty area of the home screen — and switch the search row off. The page indicator comes back in its place.
Which Galaxy phones get it
The One UI 9 home screen search bar is live today on:
- Galaxy Z Fold8
- Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra
- Galaxy Z Flip8
Those are the three devices that launched with One UI 9 preinstalled after Samsung’s July Unpacked in London. Everyone else gets the feature whenever the Android 17-based update reaches their phone, which Samsung is rolling out to the wider Galaxy lineup over the coming months. Samsung has not published a device-by-device schedule for that rollout yet, so treat any specific date you see attached to your model as unconfirmed until Samsung says so.
Sources: 9to5Google, Android Authority
