Cos'è Upday for Samsung?
Upday for Samsung in 2025 remains an integrated news service preinstalled on Samsung devices, but its status and user experience have shifted notably compared to prior years:
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Feature Changes and Reduction: On the latest Samsung devices, particularly the Galaxy S25 Ultra running Android 15 and One UI 7.0, users report that "Read," the Upday-powered news option under Samsung Free, has been removed or hidden. Now only media-related options like "Watch" and "Play" are available, making it harder or sometimes impossible to access news via Upday through the usual swipe-right gesture on the home screen [4]. Some users in Samsung’s community have confirmed that, as of early February 2025, Upday is either missing or not functioning as before on new devices.
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Disabling and Removal: Upday is still considered a system app on most Samsung smartphones and cannot be fully deleted by non-rooted users. However, you can deactivate it from your home screen settings to remove its presence if you do not wish to see its news feed [6]. This process has not changed in 2025.
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Standalone App Availability: Upday continues to be available as a downloadable news app for Android via the Google Play Store (and other platforms), independent of Samsung Free integration [5] [3] [8]. The latest updates to the app itself, as of April and July 2025, maintain its global news aggregation features, advertising, and user-selected feeds, but some reviews complain about increased ad intrusion and layout frustrations [5] [8].
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Possible Service Transition or Discontinuation: There are hints and user forum discussions suggesting that the Upday service may be fully removed from Samsung’s built-in news feed by the end of 2025. Community posts reference official announcements or rumors about Upday’s deactivation from the default Samsung swipe-right panel [4].
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User Feedback: Reactions to the updates are mixed. Some users find recent changes or removals to be disruptive, especially those who preferred Upday for quick news access [2] [4]. Others recommend customizing the device with apps like "Good Lock" or using alternative news services, as the built-in Upday experience no longer matches previous years’ utility or visibility [2].
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Summary of Current Use:
- On newer Samsung devices: Access to Upday news from the left homescreen panel is reduced or absent; Samsung Free may no longer offer the "Read" (news) tab [4].
- As a standalone app: Upday can still be installed, updated, and used on all Android devices, including Samsung phones not reliant on the home screen feed integration [5] [3] [8].
If you’re seeking news on a Samsung phone in 2025, you will likely need to download the Upday app directly from the Play Store, as its direct integration into Samsung Free may soon be—or is already—phased out on the latest devices [4] [8] [5].