Samsung’s Now Brief is one of the newest AI-driven features introduced with the Galaxy S25 series, aiming to provide a personalized daily summary at a glance. In theory, it should be a powerful AI companion, offering users key information about their day, integrating details from various Samsung apps into a single hub. However, in practice, Now Brief feels more like an unfinished concept—functional but uninspiring, much like a bowl of plain oatmeal.
A Useful Yet Bland Feature
The Galaxy S25 series has introduced several AI-powered enhancements, with Now Brief being one of the most notable. The idea is simple: bring together important daily details like weather updates, calendar reminders, and news summaries into one interface. However, while it delivers useful information, the execution lacks depth and customization, leaving many users feeling underwhelmed.
Much like plain oatmeal, Now Brief isn’t useless, but it’s not particularly exciting either. The AI feature does “stuff,” but its potential is far greater than its current execution.
What Now Brief Offers (and What It’s Missing)
On the surface, Now Brief has access to a wide range of data sources on your Galaxy device, pulling in:
- Weather forecasts
- Calendar events and reminders
- News summaries
- Samsung Health and wellness data
- Travel and traffic updates (via Google Maps)
- Photo highlights from the Samsung Gallery app
- Smart home suggestions
With this broad scope of available data, Now Brief could be a fantastic AI-powered assistant, offering insights tailored to each user’s habits and needs. However, the reality is much different. Instead of providing truly personalized insights, Now Brief currently delivers only the most basic information, much of which users already see in Samsung’s default widgets or notifications.
Where Now Brief Falls Short
The biggest flaw in Now Brief is its limited scope—especially in terms of third-party app integration. While Google Maps integrates seamlessly for travel updates, other widely used third-party apps are noticeably absent.
For instance, when we imagined what Now Brief could be capable of, it seemed logical that it would pull in information from all relevant apps in a user’s daily routine. A fully functional Now Brief could include:
- Smart home controls, allowing users to adjust lighting or thermostat settings based on their schedule.
- Ride-sharing updates, such as scheduled Uber rides appearing in the travel section.
- Health insights from apps like Oura or Fitbit, rather than just Samsung Health.
- Google Photos integration, which many users prefer over Samsung’s Gallery app.
However, none of these third-party integrations exist yet. Instead, Now Brief limits itself to Samsung’s proprietary apps, severely restricting its utility.
The Third-Party Integration Problem
Diving deeper into Now Brief’s settings in One UI 7, it becomes clear that Samsung has built a strong foundation for third-party integration—it just hasn’t activated it yet.
For example, within the settings, there is an option labeled “Communication” that currently serves no real function. There are no options within this section, and no third-party apps appear to integrate with it. This suggests that Samsung intends to expand Now Brief’s capabilities in future updates but hasn’t done so yet.
This is a missed opportunity, as Now Brief could become a truly essential feature if Samsung actively worked with app developers to allow deeper integration. Google apps, for example, are already heavily involved in One UI 7, so their inclusion in Now Brief is expected rather than surprising. However, real third-party support—from apps like Spotify, Uber, or smart home platforms—is what would truly elevate Now Brief’s usefulness.
How Now Brief Can Improve
For Now Brief to fulfill its potential, Samsung needs to make several critical changes, including:
1. Expanding Third-Party Support
Now Brief should allow more apps to integrate directly into the interface. Users should be able to choose which apps contribute data, ensuring a more personalized and useful daily summary.
2. Smarter AI Personalization
Samsung’s AI should analyze user habits to provide smarter recommendations. For example, suggesting a playlist for the morning commute, reminding users to drink water based on fitness data, or even suggesting restaurants based on past dining habits.
3. Better Widget Integration
Instead of relying solely on Now Brief’s menu, Samsung should allow its widgets to be more interactive, pulling from Now Brief’s AI-driven insights for a more dynamic home screen experience.
4. Improved Smart Home Controls
Since Samsung is a key player in the smart home industry, Now Brief should offer better integration with SmartThings and Matter-compatible devices, allowing users to control smart home functions from the briefing screen.
5. More Intuitive Customization
Currently, users can toggle which Samsung apps appear in Now Brief, but the selection is too limited. A better solution would be a fully customizable briefing where users can prioritize which types of information matter most.
Will Samsung Fix These Issues in One UI 7 or One UI 8?
The foundation for a great AI-powered assistant is already in place, but it feels incomplete. While Samsung may expand Now Brief’s capabilities in future One UI updates, there’s no clear timeline for when this will happen.
The concern is that Samsung might wait until One UI 8 to make these meaningful changes, leaving users with a half-baked AI feature until then. If Samsung wants Now Brief to stand out, it must act quickly to address these shortcomings.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
