New One UI 6.0 media controller is darn near perfect!

I've been using stable One UI 6.0 on my Galaxy S22 since the beginning of the week. I haven't experimented with every new feature Samsung added through this massive update. But I can already tell that the new media controller is one of my favorite things about One UI 6.0.

The new media controller, available in the notification area and on the lock screen, is nothing revolutionary, but it fits this era of mobile UX and One UI perfectly.

Samsung's new media controller is sort of like an auto-stacking widget for the lock screen and notification area. It appears automatically when you're playing audio or video content on your phone, and if you're playing content from more than one source, say, YouTube, YouTube Music, and Samsung Music, all the media players stack and can be scrolled through. Users can also remove inactive players from the stack by tapping and holding.

The controller can be resized with just a tap of a button, and it will remember the size you picked on both the lock screen and the notification area, even after you lock and unlock your phone.

And, of course, the media controller in One UI 6.0 is interactive. You can control playback, like songs and videos, and drag the timeline slider. Furthermore, when using the media player on the lock screen, you get a handy Media Output shortcut.

But perhaps the most striking thing about the new media controller in One UI 6.0 is how it looks when expanded. It shows album art, if available, and the wavy timeline is mesmerizing.

A relatively minor feature done (almost) to perfection?

I'm struggling to think of ways in which Samsung could improve this new One UI 6 media controller. But after using it for a day or two, I can barely think of anything.

Perhaps the one thing I'd like to see improved is the aforementioned wavy timeline (demonstrated in the screen recording above). It looks neat as it is, but a nice touch would be for it to behave more like a functional equalizer instead of showing a seemingly random animation.

The new media controller might be a relatively minor change to One UI 6.0 in the grand scheme of things, but that seems to be the overarching theme of this update. It consists of numerous small changes and additions that morph the user experience in many subtle ways.

Check out our hands-on video below and read our definitive One UI 6.0 feature guide for more details.

If you want to experience One UI 6.0 right now, you can do it on the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S23 series, the Galaxy A54 and A73, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Tab S9 lineup. Samsung will continue to update more Galaxy devices to Android 14 over the coming weeks and months.