Samsung recently introduced a new useful feature for Galaxy phones, the Now Bar. With this feature, users can receive live notifications without unlocking their phones with the helpful updates from various apps that are displayed on the lock screen and Always-On Display. Now Bar will be available on the Clock app with the coming software update, One UI 8.5 update.
According to leaker Tarun Vats on X, One UI 8.5 will support the Now Bar app card for the stock Clock app. The expanded card will show the current time, including information for the next alarm or a snoozed alarm. Users can also dismiss the next alarm directly from the Now Bar card.
One UI 8.5 launches updates to the Samsung Voice Recorder app
The Now Bar card for Alarm isn’t the only new feature One UI 8.5 will bring. Tarun Vats also notes on X that the Voice Recorder app will get a fresh new UI with One UI 8.5. The main recording page has a clean, smooth appearance, with a perfect blend of colours and the audio waveform.
The new UI for the recording list offers a card-centric design instead of the simpler list view. The recording duration displays a colour. We’re not sure yet if it is default by the system or user-assigned. The drawback of the new UI is that it decreases information density. For heavy users who have a lot of audio recordings, this can be annoying.
The One UI 8.5 beta launched on December 8, 2025, starting with the Galaxy 25 series in select markets like Germany, India, Korea, Poland, the UK and the U.S. Most users will have to wait for the stable update to arrive before trying out these new features.
