How to Use Samsung Finder on One UI 9 to Search Your Galaxy Phone

Samsung's Finder is easier to miss than it should be, but One UI 9 gives it a more useful place on the Galaxy home screen. On compatible phones, you can search for notes, recordings, reminders, files and other information using everyday language instead of remembering which app contains it.

The useful part is not simply having another search box. Finder can search supported content across the phone, while its newer search experience can also surface information from notifications and supported services. Here is how to turn it on, configure what it searches, and use natural-language queries without giving Finder more access to your data than you need.

First, check that your Galaxy phone supports the newer Finder

The Home Finder experience is available on Galaxy devices running One UI 8.5 or later, with the Galaxy S26 series among the devices that introduced it. One UI 9 changes some of the menu names, so instructions written for older Galaxy software can point you to the wrong setting. Samsung's current support documentation specifically notes that the Finder controls moved in One UI 9.

To check your software version, open Settings, select About phone, and then open Software information. Look for the One UI version. If your phone is still running an older version, some of the options below may not appear in exactly the same place.

Turn Finder on from the One UI 9 home-screen settings

Finder does not have to remain buried in the app drawer. Samsung's current instructions say it can be placed directly on the home screen, although the wording is different on One UI 9 compared with earlier releases.

1. Touch and hold an empty area of the Home screen.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Open Show search on Home screen.
4. Turn on the option for Finder.

Once enabled, the Finder search control appears on the home screen. If you do not see the option, check the One UI version again because Samsung's Finder features depend on the software version and device model.

Use normal words instead of hunting through apps

The biggest practical change is that Finder can understand natural-language searches. Samsung says natural-language search activates for queries of five characters or longer or for full sentences, with supported content including Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Voice Recorder, recorded calls and My Files.

Instead of remembering that you saved something in Samsung Notes, for example, you can search for the words or idea you remember. A query such as next meeting can be more useful than searching separately through Notes and Calendar because Finder can look across supported sources for matching information.

This is still device search, not a universal search engine for everything on your phone. Samsung lists supported apps and functions, and availability can vary by country, region, language and device. Advanced search also works within the language configured for the phone.

Search apps and files from the right Finder entry point

One UI 9 makes a distinction between the Home Finder and the Finder available from the apps area. Samsung says Home Finder does not provide the same suggested-app experience, so the Apps Finder remains useful when your goal is simply to locate an installed application.

For an app, open the app drawer and use its Finder search. For information such as a note, reminder or saved file, the home-screen Finder can be more convenient because you can begin the search without first opening another app.

This distinction matters when a search seems incomplete. If you are trying to launch an application rather than find information inside it, switch to the Apps Finder instead of assuming that the Home Finder is missing results.

Choose which apps Finder is allowed to search

You can narrow Finder's search scope rather than allowing every supported application to appear in results. On One UI 9, Samsung moved this control inside Finder's settings.

1. Open Finder from the Home screen.
2. Tap the More options button in the search interface.
3. Open Settings.
4. Tap Choose apps to search in.
5. Enable the applications you want Finder to include.

This is useful if you mainly use Finder for a small set of sources. It also gives you a way to reduce irrelevant results when several apps contain similar information.

Understand what Recall Cards are doing with your information

Finder can do more than search text you deliberately saved. Samsung's newer experience includes search suggestions and Recall Cards, which can surface reservation information gathered from notifications and supported applications. Samsung calls the underlying feature Personal Data Intelligence.

That can be convenient when you are trying to recover travel or appointment information, but it is also the part of Finder worth checking if you care about limiting personal-data features. Samsung says the recalled information can come from supported notification sources, including services such as Messages, Gmail and Samsung Wallet, subject to the applicable permissions and availability.

If you do not want reservation information and Recall Cards, open Finder, go to Settings, and turn off Personal data intelligence. Samsung's support documentation identifies this setting as the control for disabling those features.

Use Finder for the searches you actually repeat

Finder becomes more useful when you treat it as a shortcut for information that is otherwise scattered around the phone. Try searches based on the information you remember rather than the application where you think it was stored. Searching for a reminder, a note topic, a recorded call or a saved file can be quicker than opening several apps one by one.

For example, if you remember only that you wrote down something about an upcoming appointment, start with the words you remember. If the information exists in a supported source, Finder can return the relevant result without requiring you to remember whether you put it in Notes, Calendar or another supported location.

Know the limits before relying on Finder

Finder is not a guarantee that every piece of information on a Galaxy phone will appear in one search. Samsung explicitly says available functions can vary by country, region and language, and its supported-app list is limited. Notifications also need to be enabled for information that depends on recalled notification data.

There is another practical limitation: natural-language search depends on the language configured for the device when using advanced search. A query that works on one Galaxy phone may therefore behave differently after changing the system language or when using a language that Samsung does not support for the same search capabilities.

The best setup is consequently simple: enable Finder on the home screen if you use phone-wide search regularly, configure the apps it can search, and review Personal Data Intelligence if you do not want Recall Cards. Once those choices are made, Finder can serve as a single starting point for finding information instead of making you remember which Samsung app you used to store it.