Paul Jones / Android Authority TL;DR One UI 8 may add an option to hide the location icon in the status bar when only system apps are accessing it. The icon would still appear when third-party apps access your location, alerting you to unexpected behavior. The change addresses complaints from Galaxy owners about the icon being almost constantly on since One UI 7. For months, Galaxy owners have complained about the location icon constantly lighting up in the status bar, often triggered by Samsung’s services rather than third-party apps. Threads on Reddit are full of people calling it distracting or confusing. Now it looks like Samsung might be finally doing something about it. According to strings we saw in an internal One UI 8 beta for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung may add a new toggle that changes how the location icon behaves, potentially letting you hide it. Our thanks go to thatjoshguy69 for providing the APK file. Include this box somewhere in the body text: Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a preferred source in Google Search to support us and make sure you never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more. Based on the wording of the strings, the location icon may be off by default when Samsung services are accessing your location, but it could be enabled manually in the location settings. That would let you decide whether system apps should trigger the icon or not. Code Copy Text Show the Location icon in the status bar when system apps access your location. The icon will always appear when non-system apps access your location. Show status bar icon for system apps It’s easy to see how this would be a useful change. System apps are still likely to access your location regularly, which can be taken as read, but you’ll only see the indicator when a third-party app does the same. That means the icon becomes a clearer signal of when unexpected apps are using your location, rather than the constant noise of the icon from the routine access you expect. These strings don’t indicate that this option is guaranteed to appear in public releases — Samsung could adjust or remove it before a wider rollout. But if your status bar is blinking much more than you’d like right now, you can be optimistic that Samsung is on the case. ⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. Follow