Samsung's Now Bar and Now Brief are the Google Now experience I've been missing

I have fond memories of the card-based Google Now service from when it was introduced in 2012. As Google’s original assistant, I thought it would suddenly boost my smartphone to a new level, providing context-aware information when needed. It wasn’t perfect, but it did its best to keep me on top of the few things I had to worry about back in high school. And then, in true Google fashion, it was gone.

But, as they say, what’s old has become new again. Years after card-based assistants were demoted in favor of voice assistants like Siri and Bixby, they’re back again. Apple was first to the party with its Dynamic Island, but now Samsung has arrived with a brand-new Now Bar of its own. So, with a healthy dose of nostalgia, I decided to try the Now Bar on my Galaxy S25, and I think it’s made me a believer. Here’s why.

So, did Samsung copy the Dynamic Island?

Well, yes — but also no. In some ways, the Now Bar in One UI 7 feels a lot like Apple’s Dynamic Island because it offers glanceable updates on things you care about, like sports scores, kitchen timers, and the status of a voice recording. Also, tapping on a card in the Now Bar will expand to give you more control over whatever is running without fully opening the app. However, that’s about where the similarities to the Dynamic Island wear off, with the rest of the Now Bar feeling significantly more polished.

I’d say that the Now Bar feels closer to a take on OnePlus’s Live Alerts than Apple’s Dynamic Island, but it has advantages over that, too. The Now Bar is much easier to reach since it lives at the bottom of your Galaxy’s display when you pull up the lock screen. I don’t feel like I have to stretch my hand to check on the thoroughly mediocre state of Penn State men’s basketball (at least in conference), nor do I have to use my Galaxy S25 Ultra with two hands at all times.

Outside of that, the Now Bar also feels a bit more responsive than either the Dynamic Island or Live Alerts. For example, I’m not the strictest follower of college basketball outside of March, so I didn’t expect to see the Penn State vs Michigan score displayed at the top of my Galaxy S25 Ultra because I hadn’t even downloaded CBS Sports as part of my setup process yet. However, because the Now Bar pulls its sports directly from Google, it should give me updates on most of the teams I’ve looked up recently, including the ones I follow, like Chelsea FC and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Now Bar can also bring you directions from Google Maps, tracking from Samsung Health, real-time use of Interpreter mode, and the timer support I mentioned above. I haven’t had a chance to try them all, as I’ve only had my Galaxy S25 Ultra for a few hours, but so far, Google Maps has guided me to my last soccer game of the season, and Samsung Health has suggested that I might be a little rusty after a month without cleats on.

Does the Now Brief add anything?

Perhaps the only confusing part about Samsung’s Now Bar is that it comes with another Now-branded feature, the Now Brief. At first, I thought the two might be almost identical, only varying when and how they appear on your Galaxy S25 device, but I’ve quickly realized they’re quite a bit different. The Now Brief is much closer to the At a Glance feature at the top of most Pixel home screens, offering a one-stop shop for weather updates, calendar appointments, and a quick hit of news or recommended Spotify playlists.

Essentially, I think the Now Brief is meant to work in partnership with the Now Bar, but you won’t need to check it as frequently. It seems like a valuable rundown to glance at in the morning before work, around lunchtime, and in the evening — you know, the times when you have a couple of extra seconds to check your phone. So far, I’ve been decently impressed with the quick weather report, which offers the hourly temperatures and any severe weather reminders, and the Spotify playlists haven’t been bad, either.

That said, the Now Brief is a little fast and loose with the news it recommends. Unlike Google’s Daily Listen, which pulls straight from my Discover feed, my Now Brief seems to pick a national news article, whether I like it or not. So far, it’s been an alarming mix of ICE raiding high schools and backlash to whatever Elon Musk has done in the last few minutes, while I’d probably prefer a mix of my interests. Perhaps the Now Brief needs time to learn my news-reading habits, but that’s the one piece that hasn’t felt very tailored to me just yet.

Just like Google Now, the Now Bar has room to grow

Overall, I like Samsung’s one-two combination of the Now Bar and Now Brief. They work together just closely enough without being completely redundant, even if their similar names can be slightly confusing. It’s been easy enough to rely on the Now Bar when I leave my Galaxy S25 Ultra and come back to it, especially as it’s taken over for my OnePlus 13 as a go-to kitchen companion. I’m not worried about running a timer and streaming a Spotify playlist simultaneously, and Samsung’s cards stack far easier than those on the iPhone 16 Pro.

That said, the Now Bar isn’t perfect. Although it’s incredibly easy to reach when your phone is locked, the cards shift to the notification shade in the top left corner of your display as soon as you unlock it. They might still be easy to reach if you have a smaller Galaxy S25, but it’s much harder on the Ultra. In fact, the Now Bar cards become even more challenging to reach than those on an iPhone or the OnePlus 13, which isn’t great. I’m not sure there’s a great solution for this since it’s not like Samsung could use a long press of the gesture button to open the Now Bar because that already controls Circle to Search.

Also, there are a few more features that I’m hoping will come to the Now Bar down the road. Although it can remind you that you should leave by a certain time to make it to an appointment, I’d sure like it to pick up support for train tickets or airline boarding passes from my Samsung Wallet. In fact, I’m kind of surprised that the two services don’t work closely together to get you from your front door to your gate.

Anyway, the things that the Now Bar does, it does incredibly well, and I’m eager to keep exploring them as my Galaxy S25 Ultra relearns my usage habits over the next few weeks. Right now, the Now Bar is limited to devices running One UI 7, so if you want your own chance to try it out, you can grab a new phone down below.