Similar to other flagship smartphones these days, the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ both have an always on display feature that is enabled by default. If you don’t need this feature, or simply aren’t a fan of it, then this guide will show you how to disable it completely.
There’s only so much hardware that smartphone companies can pack into a device these days. Turning to the software is a great way to offer more features to the customer and this is what a number of companies did with the rise in popularity of an always on display. You could technically have this feature on a device with an LCD screen (LG did it), but it’s best when used with one that uses OLED technology.
We’ve had devices with OLED screens for years but it wasn’t until recently that we saw this feature enter the market. The idea makes a lot of sense too since it can be configure with an OLED panel to not use up a lot of battery life.
Some people work at a desk or some other stationary location where they can set their smartphones on. Being able to glance at it to see the time can be useful, depending on your current setup, but always being able to see if you have a notification waiting from a specific application is the key here. Most devices won’t display the full notification details but will show you icons for those that are pending.
However, this isn’t very useful for a number of people (including myself) and while it is optimized for battery life, the feature still uses more battery than if it was turned off. So let me walk you through the steps you’ll need to take in order to turn off the Galaxy S9 always on display feature.
Disable Galaxy S9 Always On Display
- Open up the Settings application
- Scroll down and tap on the Lock Screen and Security option
- Scroll down again to the Lock Screen and Always On Display section
- Then tap the toggle button to the right of the Always On Display option
Explanation
As with most of the software features packed into smartphones these days, the process to turn a feature on or off isn’t difficult at all. Knowing that the feature is there and that you can enable, disable, or configure its options are the important part. This is likely true with the Always On Display feature of the Galaxy S9 as well since it is turned on by default. Some people won’t even think that it is capable of being turned off. This guide walks you through how to turn it off or back on, and in the future I’ll be covering the customization options that come with it.
So to start off, we need to launch the Settings application. Some would speculate that the Galaxy S9 Always On Display feature would be tucked away in the Display section. Interestingly though, it is not, but if you ended up going there my mistake then you should see a link to where you want at the bottom of that section. Instead, you want to scroll down and tap on the Lock Screen and Security option that is located further down the Settings application page.
From here, you’ll want to scroll down again and look for the Lock Screen and Always On Display section. It’s here that you’ll find the basic toggle that turns this feature on and off. Again, the Galaxy S9 Always On Display feature is turned on by default so if you haven’t messed with it in the past then you’ll see this toggled on. All we have to do is tap the toggle icon and the feature will then turn off. As shown in the video above, once the toggle is flipped you can press the Power button and make sure it is off.
There are also some customization options in this section as well. I wanted to keep this guide simpel though as some people will be specifically looking for the steps on how they can disable the feature. So I will focus on those useful customization options in a future guide. If you have any questions that you would like answered about the Galaxy S9 Always On Display then let me know in the comments down below.
