How to change display settings on the Samsung Galaxy S23

1. Go to Settings, then Display

Open the Settings app, scroll down a little way from the top, and tap Display.

2. Adjust Display options

Browse the options and alter your display settings as needed using the sliders and toggles. We'll take you through all of these settings below.

Use the dark mode toggle or set a schedule

You can swap between Light and Dark profiles from the main Display menu, or open the Dark modes settings.

Going into Dark mode settings lets you enable a schedule for when the phone swaps modes, be it the default of sunrise to sunset or specific hours you set yourself. 

Use the brightness slider

The brightness slider, found in the main Display menu lets you alter how bright your display is.

Toggling adaptive brightness will allow the phone to automatically adjust to the ambient light conditions around you. Keep this setting off allows you to use Extra brightness, which increases the highest potential brightness you can use, but at the cost of faster battery drain.

Select Adaptive or Standard Motion smoothness

Motion smoothness affects your display refresh rate. Tap which one you wish to use and then tap Apply.

Adaptive lets the display move anywhere between 1Hz and the maximum 120Hz, while standard locks it at 60Hz for longer battery life but less smooth performance.

For more details, see our how to change refresh rate on Galaxy S23 guide.

Use the Eye comfort shield settings

Eye comfort shield controls the color of the light emitted by your display in the name of helping you sleep better by reducing blue light at the end of the day. Here you can set it to adaptive to automatically adjust, set up a custom schedule, or enable the Enhanced comfort mode that further changes the display's color profile. 

Tweak the Screen mode settings

Screen mode provides control over how your phone displays colors. The default Vivid and Natural modes let you swap between a more or less vibrant color palette.

You can also adjust the display's white balance when in Vivid mode, or set up a custom RGB mix under Advanced settings

Use Font size and style

Font size and style lets you pick a font for the text on your phone, whether it's bolded and how large it is. There are three fonts to pick from by default, but you can download others. 

If you or the phone's user are visually impaired, then this could prove an invaluable setting.

Use screen zoom to change the size of non-text elements

Screen zoom changes the size of other non-text elements on your phone, using presets along a slider. This is another setting that users with vision impairment may find useful to play around with.

Adjust the Screen resolution settings

Screen resolution changes how detailed your display is. The default is FHD, but you can also downgrade to HD to save battery or upgrade to the phone's full QHD for greater sharpness. 

Toggle full screen apps

Full screen apps allows you to pick which apps will zoom in to fill the whole display, rather than leave black bars on the edge. This is only compatible with certain apps, as you can see in this example where my only option is Netflix. 

Hide or reveal the selfie camera using Camera cutout settings

Camera cutout lets you hide the punch-hole notch within an artificial black bezel. You can set it for specific apps in case you'd rather not lose any of the interface under the punch-hole. 

Select a Screen timeout duration

Screen timeout controls how long your display will stay on for if you don't make an input. The default is thirty seconds but you can set it to up to ten minutes if you want. 

Toggle Easy mode

Easy mode simplifies the home screen of your Galaxy S23. It makes the icons larger, the keyboard more readable and increases how long you can tap and hold the display before the command is registered. It's ideal for users who are less confident or able to navigate the typical smartphone home screen. 

See our full guide on how to set up Easy Mode on Samsung Galaxy devices.

Turn on Edge panel and swap Edge panel options

Edge panels are optional toolbars of shortcuts that you can access by swiping in from the edge of the display. There are several different options for these panels, such as apps, contacts, weather updates and reminders, which you can enable and disable as you like.

The handle option controls the position, size and coloration of the long thin icon that hangs around on the edge of your display, showing where to swipe to enable the Edge panels.

Select a virtual button or gesture navigation bar

Navigation bar allows you to swap between virtual button and gesture navigation methods, as well as hybrids of the two under More options. It also lets you choose whether or not to have a gesture hint bar at the bottom of the display, and whether or not you want the S Pen to be able to perform gestures, in the case of the Ultra model.

Set up a photo slideshow or colors screensaver

Through the screensaver option, you can pick whether to have nothing show on the display while your phone charges, or if you want swirling colors or a photo slideshow.