Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
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TL;DR
- Samsung’s Phone app in One UI 9.5 could bring the search button to the bottom of the screen.
- This should make it much easier to activate search functionality, especially on large phones.
- It also looks like the actual search menu has received a few subtle changes.
The Samsung Phone app has received some welcome features over the years, including Bixby Text Call, call recording, call captions, and more. But it looks like the company is bringing a small yet welcome search tweak to the app in One UI 9.5.
SamMobile obtained the One UI 9.5 version of Samsung’s Phone app, and discovered that the search icon will move from the top of the screen to the bottom. The search icon will specifically sit alongside the Keypad, Recents, and Contacts buttons. Check out the screens below.
This change should make it easier for users to search for contacts and numbers, as they don’t have to stretch their thumbs to reach the search button at the top of the screen. This isn’t really an issue on the Galaxy S26 and similarly small phones, but I can see it being a huge problem on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and other large devices.
It also looks like there are a couple of subtle changes after you actually tap the search button. We’ve now got a “Search” header next to the back arrow. Furthermore, the text in the search bar has been changed from “Search” to “What are you looking for?”.
Either way, these seem like sensible changes. But I hope the bottom search button in particular comes to older devices too via an app update. This way, you’d get more convenient search functionality on phones that might not be getting One UI 9.5 in the first place.
