What Now Brief Is and Why You Might Want to Remove It

Now Brief is a Samsung feature that shows you a personalized feed of news, weather, calendar events, and other information on your lock screen or home screen. It pulls from Samsung's own content sources and your phone's data. Some users find it useful; others find it cluttered or prefer a cleaner interface.

Deleting Now Brief does not remove any of your personal data — it straightforward stops the widget from appearing on your screen. You can turn it off entirely, remove it from specific locations, or disable notifications from it. The steps depend on where the widget is showing up and whether you want to remove it temporarily or permanently.

Key Takeaways

  • Now Brief can be removed from your lock screen by opening Settings, navigating to Lock Screen, and toggling off the Now Brief widget.
  • To remove it from your home screen, long-press the widget and select Remove or Delete from the menu that appears.
  • Disabling notifications from Now Brief in Settings stops alerts without removing the widget itself.
  • Removing Now Brief does not delete any personal information stored on your phone.

Remove Now Brief from Your Lock Screen

The most common place Now Brief appears is on your lock screen. To turn it off there, open Settings on your Samsung phone and scroll down to find Lock Screen. Tap it, then look for an option labeled Now Brief or Widgets. Toggle the switch to the off position.

The exact wording and location can vary slightly depending on your Samsung model and Android version, but the Settings > Lock Screen path works on most recent Samsung devices. After you toggle it off, your lock screen will no longer display the Now Brief widget. You can turn it back on the same way if you change your mind later.

Remove Now Brief from Your Home Screen

If Now Brief is showing as a widget on one of your home screen pages, the fastest way to remove it is to long-press directly on the widget. Hold your finger on it for about two seconds until a menu appears with options like Remove, Delete, or Edit.

Select Remove or Delete from that menu. The widget will disappear from your home screen when ready. This method removes only that single instance of the widget — if it appears on multiple home screen pages, you will need to repeat the process for each one.

Turn Off Now Brief Notifications

Even if you keep the Now Brief widget visible, you can stop it from sending you notifications. Open Settings, then go to Apps or Applications. Search for or scroll to find Samsung Free or Now Brief (the app name varies by device). Tap it, then select Notifications.

Toggle off the notification switch. You can also choose to allow notifications but disable sound and vibration, or set it to silent mode only. This keeps the widget on your screen but prevents pop-ups and alerts from interrupting you.

Disable Now Brief Through Samsung Free Settings

Now Brief is part of the Samsung Free app, which also delivers news and other content. If you want to control Now Brief more precisely, you can open the Samsung Free app itself and look for settings or preferences within it. Tap the menu icon (usually three horizontal lines or three dots) and select Settings.

From there, you can turn off specific content types, adjust what appears in your feed, or disable the lock screen widget. Some Samsung phones let you disable the entire Samsung Free service from here, which will remove Now Brief along with it. Check your phone's version to see what options are available.

What Happens If You Uninstall Samsung Free

On some Samsung models, you cannot fully uninstall Samsung Free because it is a system app. However, you can disable it. Go to Settings > Apps, find Samsung Free, and tap Disable if that option appears. This removes the app from your phone's active services and stops Now Brief from showing anywhere.

If the Disable button is grayed out, your phone does not allow you to disable this particular system app. In that case, removing the widget from your lock screen and home screen, combined with turning off notifications, is the most complete removal you can achieve. You can also update Samsung Free through the Galaxy Store if you want the latest version with the most control options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will deleting Now Brief remove my calendar events or other personal data?

No. Now Brief is only a display widget. Removing it does not delete your calendar, contacts, messages, or any other information on your phone. All your personal data remains intact.

Can I remove Now Brief from the lock screen but keep it on my home screen?

Yes. You can control Now Brief separately on each screen. Turn it off in Lock Screen settings, then leave the home screen widget in place, or vice versa. Each location has its own toggle or removal method.

What if Now Brief comes back after I remove it?

If you removed the widget from your home screen, it may reappear after a system update or if Samsung Free updates. You can remove it again using the same long-press method. If it keeps returning on your lock screen, make sure the toggle in Settings > Lock Screen is actually set to off.

Does removing Now Brief save battery or storage space?

Removing the widget itself saves very little battery or storage. If you disable the entire Samsung Free app, you may see a small improvement in battery life because the app stops refreshing content in the background. The storage savings are minimal unless you also clear the app's cached data.

Can I customize Now Brief instead of deleting it?

Yes. Open the Samsung Free app and look for settings or preferences to choose which content types appear — you can often disable news, enable only weather, or adjust the refresh frequency. This lets you keep the widget but make it less intrusive.