Samsung has disabled the Notification Categories feature by default beginning with One UI 6.1, making per-app alert controls harder to access in current builds, according to Android Police.

This feature allows users to block or allow specific types of notifications within an app. It is still available in One UI 8.5 on current Galaxy devices, but must be found via search and enabled manually.

The feature is Samsung's equivalent to the Notification Channels system on Pixel and stock Android.

Notification Categories: Functionality and Accessibility Challenges

Notification Categories allows users to filter specific alert types within an app, rather than enabling or disabling all notifications. For example, Android Police notes users can keep forecast updates and breaking news from Samsung News and Google, while blocking sports scores or Gemini Live prompts.

The feature also works with third-party apps. Android Police explains it can be used to allow direct messages and essential alerts from apps like TikTok or Instagram, while blocking spam and video recommendations. Notification Categories is distinct from the newer Notification Highlights tool, as it is an older, separate utility for managing alerts.

Samsung disabled Notification Categories by default starting with One UI 6.1, and the setting is now located under several submenu layers.

Android Police reports that finding it requires using the AI-powered search in the Settings app, which returns two results: an integrated toggle within Galaxy Themes and a separate "Manage notification categories for each app" option. The correct setting is found in Advanced Settings with other notification toggles.

Android Police notes the setting is easy to access only if users know the exact search terms; otherwise, it is difficult to locate.

How to Enable Notification Categories, And What to Watch For

To turn on How to Enable Notification Categories and Key Considerations in recent One UI:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Search for "notification categories," and select "Manage notification categories for each app" instead of the Galaxy Themes option.
3. Enable the feature in Advanced Settings under notification toggles.
4. Configure each app individually, as the feature requires per-app setup rather than a centralized page.
5. Access an app's categories directly from the notification panel when an alert appears. Android Police notes this is faster than navigating through the app list in Settings.

On Pixel and stock Android devices, the equivalent feature is Notification organizer, accessible through Settings, then Notifications, then App notifications, then Notification organizer.

The main drawback is that each app's notification toggles must be configured individually, which Android Police describes as time-consuming.

Samsung does not offer cross-device syncing for notification preferences, so this process must be repeated on each Galaxy phone or tablet.

Android Police notes that using Notification Categories with Notification Highlights, which uses AI to summarize and prioritize notifications, reduces the number of apps requiring manual configuration.

However, full AI filtering through Notification Highlights is available only on recent flagship models, so older and mid-range Galaxy devices do not have this option.

Samsung has not announced plans to re-enable Notification Categories by default in future One UI builds or to add cross-device syncing for notification preferences.

Users setting up multiple Galaxy devices should expect to repeat the per-app configuration on each device until Samsung changes this behavior. The feature remains available in current One UI versions, so users can continue to enable it manually after each device setup.

Thank you for being a Ghacks reader. The post Samsung One UI Hides Notification Categories by Default, but the Setting Can Be Re-Enabled appeared first on gHacks.

Das soziale Netzwerk W versteht sich als Alternative zu Instagram, Bluesky oder X. Die Nutzung ist nur mit geprüfter Identität möglich. (Soziales Netz, Jugendschutz)

Microsoft will offer free Windows 10 security updates through October 2026 to consumers who enable Windows Backup or spend 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, the company said today. The move provides alternatives to the previously announced $30-per-PC Extended Security Update program for individuals wanting to continue using Windows 10 past its October 14, 2025 end-of-support date. The company will notify Windows 10 users about the ESU program through the Settings app and notifications starting in July, with full rollout by mid-August. Both free options require a Microsoft Account, which the company has increasingly pushed in Windows 11. Business and organizational customers can still purchase up to three years of ESU updates but must pay for the service. Windows 10 remains installed on 53% of Windows PCs worldwide, according to Statcounter data.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

In a recent video, YouTuber and photographer Paul Baldonado followed Martha Cooper around NYC's Alphabet City for his Walkie Talkie series, a casual interview series with influential street photographers. Martha Cooper is a legend in the world of street photography, with a career spanning over six decades. Much of her work focuses on New York City, but she has also undertaken numerous global projects and a long-term series in Baltimore. Above all, Cooper is best known for her pioneering work capturing graffiti. Her iconic book Subway Art, which was co-authored with Henry Chalfant and is often called the "bible of graffiti," helped legitimize and popularize street art across the world.

In the video, Cooper discusses her prolific career, including where she got her start, various projects she's worked on and how people's reaction to getting their photos taken has changed. She talks about her time working for the New York Post, which sparked her first street art photos, a personal project documenting Alphabet City, a neighborhood in the East Village in New York City. That project involved capturing kids being creative by making toys with whatever scrap they could find in the numerous vacant lots in the area.

Cooper explains that her graffiti work came from photographing a boy with his pigeon coop, who she had worked with numerous times already. He showed her his notebook of sketches, explaining that he was practicing writing his name on walls, and suggested she take photos of graffiti. That boy introduced her to Dondi, a graffiti king. "After I met Dondi, I became kind of obsessed with graffiti and began a whole other project about that," explains Cooper.

The video touches on other projects, including her Casita series and SOWEBO, which she spent a decade working on. She discusses with Baldonado how you know when a series is done and the struggles of being a photographer. She mentions how hard it has been to get certain bodies of work published, with plenty never seeing the light of day. "If you're going to be a photographer, you really need to learn how to accept rejection," Cooper says.

Cooper is currently working on archiving her extensive library of work and getting her images into the Library of Congress. She's still active on social media, sharing her images of graffiti on Instagram.

In what is likely a preview of the levels of grift about to come — levels previously not thought possible — Trump has launched a Solana memecoin two days before his inauguration. The move was so unexpected that many believed the president-elect's Twitter account had been compromised to promote a fake scam token, but half a day later, it appears this scam token is of the genuinely Trump-backed variety.

• Tweet by Donald Trump

Can't reach someone's private server on localhost from outside? No problem

A years-old security oversight has been addressed in basically all web browsers – Chromium-based browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, WebKit browsers like Apple's Safari, and Mozilla's Firefox.…