The Samsung Galaxy S26 line of phones, which launched alongside the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 foldables line, offers enticing upgrades in performance, AI, cameras, and more. With One UI 9.0, Samsung puts its unique spin on Android 17 as well, including features exclusive to its devices like a redesigned Quick Panel, advanced Galaxy AI tools that work alongside Google’s Gemini, a resizable media player, adaptive lock screen, and more.
There’s one feature, however, that’s super simple but useful, yet it seems hidden. In fact, many users probably don’t even know it exists. But if you did, I guarantee you’d use it because it serves as a window into discovering whatever you might need from within the phone, apps, and more, right from your home screen. It’s called Home Finder.
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Home Finder is the best feature you aren’t using
Set it up now
Home Finder is a feature that puts the Finder search bar right onto your phone’s home screen. Home Finder places the built-in Finder search bar directly on your home screen, eliminating the need to swipe up into the app drawer every time you want to search. To have it display on the home screen permanently, touch and hold on any empty spot on the home screen. With an older OS/UI, tap Settings in the bottom-right corner. Scroll down to Show Finder on Home screen and turn it on. That’s it! Alternatively, you can open the App Drawer, select the three-dot menu at the top right, select Settings, and turn Show Finder on Home screen on.
With Android 17 and One UI 9, the menu is slightly different and there’s one extra step. When you open Settings and enter Home screen settings, you’ll see Show search on Home screen. Select that, then toggle Finder to the right to turn it on.
The idea behind this feature is to make it quicker and easier to find what you need through natural language search, suggestions, and Recall cards. Having it right on the home screen eliminates one extra step from the process, which is useful for busy individuals who are always on a time crunch.
How to use Home Finder
It’s more than just a search bar
Credit: Christine Persaud / MUO
Along with typing in search words or speaking them, there are lots of AI-powered ways you can leverage Home Finder. With Recall Cards, you can enter a relevant keyword of phrase to pull up details like reservation information. Using personal data intelligence, it collects pertinent information, like reservations and notifications, from various apps across your device, including Gmail, Messages, WhatsApp, and Samsung Wallet.
When you type a relevant keyword into Finder, the phone will scan this data and generate a summary card at the top of the screen that highlights what you’re probably looking for. It might be the date, time, and location of a reservation, your flight information, or the details of your next meeting. Included with One UI 8.5 and later, it’s available with the new Galaxy S26 series phones.
For example, when I type in “flight,” it automatically pulls up a flight reservation from my Gmail. When I type in meeting, it surfaces the most recent meetings in my calendar. It’s one of the most useful and clever features on Home Finder, and it makes so much sense to keep this search bar on your phone’s home screen.
Natural language search
Look for something obscure
If you’re trying to find something less obvious, like a reservation or meeting details, you can use natural language search. Just describe what you’re looking for using standard speech instead of a series of keywords. For example, I can type “ladies at dinner” and among the results are photos of my girlfriends and me out to dinner from the Gallery app. I even tried searching for “picture with my glasses on my head” and it found the right one, as well as for “Ted Lasso” — it even called up YouTube trailers for the new season.
You can also type phrases if you’re looking for assistance on how to do something with your phone. You could type (or say) “Why is my phone’s battery dying so quickly?” and among the results are settings options for adaptive, power saving, and fast charging.
Try it out and see if it’s for you
It can save you loads of time
Credit: Christine Persaud / MUO
Home Finder is such a useful feature of the new phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, that is so simple yet so understated. While it might not be for everyone, which is why Samsung doesn’t place it front and center by default, if you find you’re often searching for that photo you know is somewhere in Gallery, but you can’t find, want to quickly see the hotel name while you fill out a customs form at the airport, or need those dinner reservation details quickly to forward to a friend while you’re on a break at work, this makes it easier. Try it out, and if you don’t like it, all you need to do is toggle it back off again.
8.5/10
SoC
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Display
6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X
RAM
12 or 16 GB
Storage
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is one of the latest phones in the line-up with tons of upgrade goodies that come with Android 17 and One UI 9.0. Convenience features are plenty, including Home Finder, which you can add to your home screen in a few clicks and use to call up just about anything you need to find.