Samsung’s One UI 7 will limit access to a longstanding Galaxy feature

Samsung’s Edge Panels has long been a signature feature of Galaxy smartphones, offering users quick access to favorite apps, tools, and contacts from the edge of their screens. Aside from a collection of built-in ones, users could also personalize their Edge Panels even more by browsing and downloading additional ones from the Galaxy Store.Now, Samsung is signaling the end of Edge Panels as we know them. The company isn’t outright removing the functionality, but, perhaps as a first step towards a more complete phase-out, it’s limiting access to installing Edge Panels. With the upcoming (and much anticipated) One UI 7 update, Samsung will no longer let users download Edge Panels from the Galaxy Store, meaning they won’t have the option to acquire new panels, or even to re-download previously purchased ones.

Existing (currently installed) Edge Panels should continue to work just fine on devices running One UI 7, but users will no longer be able to download them if they happen to uninstall them. This goes for both free and paid Edge Panels.
Apparently, Samsung is starting to give some people the heads-up so that everyone is prepared for the change, as reported by X user CID (via SamMobile). The company hasn’t given any reason why they are limiting access to Edge Panels, but it’s quite possible that they just weren’t popular enough with Samsung’s user base, or that the feature has become redundant.

As for users who have to stay on One UI 6, for whatever reason, Samsung is saying that their access to the Edge Panels store page will continue (at least for the time being).