Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
Now Brief Spotify and YouTube suggestions should be much more useful in One UI 8.5
November 28, 2025
- Samsung Now Brief in One UI 8 can recommend Spotify playlists and YouTube videos.
- In One UI 8.5, those Spotify suggestions should include more seasonal and time-of-day playlists.
- YouTube recommendations are finally becoming personalized if you share your data with Now Brief.
Samsung’s next big update for Galaxy phones is just around the corner, and with any luck, you’ll be able to start beta testing One UI 8.5 in just over a week. One UI 8.5 is set to deliver a ton of feature updates to Samsung software, and the more of those we learn about, the more excited we become for its release. Now we’ve got some more to add to that growing list, as we spot new functionality for Samsung’s Now Brief.
We first got access to both the Now Bar and Now Brief with the release of the Galaxy S25 and One UI 8 earlier this year. Beyond giving you a summary of your day, and access to a little news, the Now Brief has also dipped its toe in media recommendations, pointing you to Spotify playlists you might enjoy, or YouTube clips worth checking out. And now as we’ve been digging through early One UI 8.5 leaks, we’ve identified some ways those should be getting even better.
Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority?
- Set us as a favorite source in Google Discover to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more.
- You can also set us as a preferred source in Google Search by clicking the button below.
Let’s start with YouTube, as that’s been a particular pain point for many Now Brief users. Comments on Samsung’s community forums have complained about a seeming lack of personalization to YouTube clips highlighted by Now Brief — sure, you might still like them, but they haven’t felt super targeted. Well, it looks like Samsung’s working to fix that:
<string name="youtube_audiobrief_interest_message">We found some videos on YouTube from sports teams you may be interested in.</string>
<string name="youtube_audiobrief_travel_message">We found some YouTube videos about %s for your upcoming trip.</string>
<string name="youtube_audiobrief_videos_message">We found some YouTube videos that you might like.</string>
<string name="youtube_policy_title">Get richer insights</string>
<string name="youtube_policy_description">Share your personal data with partner to get more personalized contents such as your interest YouTube contents in your Now brief.</string>Not only do we find text strings that show Now Brief communicating that its YouTube recommendations are based on the user’s likes, but we also have these strings from where the app will request permission to track your likes in the first place.
But it’s not just YouTube that’s getting better in Now Brief; we’ve also uncovered some evidence for the ways Spotify recommendations should be improving, too:
<string name="spotify_afternoon_description">Liven up your afternoon with this playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_birthday_description">Enjoy this birthday playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_discover_description">Start your week with this playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_newmusic_description">Get into the Friday mood with this playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_newyear_description">Start the new year with this fresh playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_night_description">Wind down before bed with this playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_rainyday_description">Enjoy this rainy day playlist.</string>
<string name="spotify_release_description">Your weekend soundtrack starts here.</string>
<string name="spotify_winter_description">Enjoy this playlist for a snowy day</string>
<string name="spotify_yearend_description">Look back on the songs you listened to this year with this playlist.</string>Based on that, it looks like Now Brief will be suggesting these new playlists based on date and time — which just fits perfectly with Now Brief’s vibe.
These Now Brief finds make up the meat of our latest One UI 8.5 discoveries, but before we let you go we also wanted to share a couple other little ones that we’ve just spotted:
<string name="quick_share_app_name">Quick Share</string>
<string name="quick_share_description">Get recommendations for who to share photos with based on the faces detected in them.</string>When you’re browsing photos, look forward to sharing suggestions based on the people present in them. And then Samsung’s up to more or less the same thing for contacts:
<string name="contacts_app_name">Contacts</string>
<string name="contacts_description">Get recommended relationships and profile images for contacts based on images in Gallery.</string>If those rumors of a December 8 start to the One UI 8.5 public beta end up panning out, it shouldn’t be long at all now before we get the chance to go hands-on with these changes.
Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.