How To Disable Galaxy S8 And Galaxy S8 Plus Always On Display

Smartphones can do a lot of cool things without us even knowing it – or, at least, with us thinking that they’re doing something completely different. Take Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, for instance. Every time when you hit the Home button to leave an app, you’re actually not closing that app, but let it run in the background and consume your device’s resources. The same goes for when you lock the display yet the display isn’t actually turned off, despite you seeing a black screen.

Have you noticed that when you turn off the smartphone’s screen it still remains with a small portion of the display lit-up? Can you clearly see the date and time, as well as the battery level displayed on that lit-up area? Do you happen to see your email or text notification messages in there?

This can only mean that your phone is not completely turned off, but it rather runs the so-called Always-on Display feature. If you want to customize or just to turn off this feature and get rid of all those notifications, sudden moves, and the light that could distract you at night, read on and you’ll find out how easy it is.

What you need to know about Samsung’s Always-on Display

This is actually an old feature, but Samsung only made it a default setting with Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. It was developed with the purpose of letting you keep the screen turned on 24 hours a day without significantly affecting the battery life.

As opposed to other devices (LG G6, for instance, takes up to 1% battery for every active hour!), Samsung’s latest flagships take less than 5% battery for every 8-10 active hours. All this is possible through the Super AMOLED display technology, the powerful processor and, of course, the fact that it only lights up a small portion of the screen.

The manufacturer claims that despite this small battery consumption, it actually saves you significantly more battery during the day. That’s because it gives you quick access to a couple of basic info and notifications that otherwise would have made you unlock the screen over 100 times a day just to check up on them. By unlocking the screen less often, because you now see important info on the Lock screen, you should save more battery.

In a nutshell, with the Always-on Display (AOD), you use 5% of your phone’s battery throughout the day and have access to the information you typically search for on the smartphone when you turn it on.

Your options with the AOD feature

Against all the positive things underlined above, some users still don’t want to have it. The fact is that the Always-on Display feature will change its position on the screen every few seconds for two very obvious reasons:

To prevent the ghosting effect;
To prevent the deterioration of the screen by using the same portion of its active surface to display something 24/7.

This constant move is distracting and it often makes users think that a notification just popped up. If you feel like this battery-saving measure is constantly making you check up on the device, you can decide to:

Completely turn it off;
Access its Settings menu and try to customize it – you could tweak the clock, add in a calendar, add a background and so on.

But coming up next, we will focus on your first option as the second is something you can explore anyway, once you follow these steps.

How to turn off the Always-on Display on Galaxy S8/S8 Plus

Swipe down the Notification shade, from the top of the screen, with only one finger;
Tap on the gear icon from the upper-right corner to access the Settings;
Head to the Device panel and tap on it;
Select the Display menu and access it;
Identify the Always On Display option and select it;
Tap on its switch to turn it from On to Off;
Leave the menus and lock your display – the AOD should no longer be there.

From now on, if you want to check the clock, the date, or any unread notifications, you will just need to tap on the Home or Power button and access the phone directly. If, after a while, you will conclude that it was actually pretty handy and you will want to turn it back on, you will know how to do so.

How to customize Always-on Display on Galaxy S8/S8 Plus

To reactivate it, go back to the Display settings and switch the Always On Display from Off to On. You can try customizing it, as in picking a special clock theme from a list of seven default clocks, add one of the two different calendar themes, or even a screensaver wallpaper image from a list of three default wallpapers. Another trait you will appreciate is the adjustable luminosity as the notifications are brighter on daytime and dimmer on nighttime or in darker rooms.

As you will notice, the feature will only bring up notifications from Samsung’s stock apps. If you decide to use third-party apps with, let’s say, your text messages, you won’t be able to see the notifications from those apps on the AOD.

To customize this feature, you have the three options available under its settings:

Go to Settings;
Tap on Display;
Select Always On Display;
Select Content to Show;
Tap on either Background image or Clock/Calendar style and select your options in there.

That’s pretty much all you need to know on Samsung’s AOD feature and how to use it with your Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus.