Samsung users on One UI 7 report broken Google Sports integration in Now Bar

It seems the much-awaited One UI 7 is proving to be a slightly frustrating experience for some. Earlier today I highlighted how some users are facing issues enabling the “Rotate to landscape mode” setting on the homescreen. Now, while digging through Samsung’s community forums and Reddit, I found several reports from users claiming that Google Sports integration in the Now Bar isn’t working right, or sometimes not at all.

The Now Bar, for those who might not be familiar, is that handy little dynamic area that shows up at the top of your screen for certain ongoing activities, like timers or navigation. It’s supposed to also display live sports scores from teams you follow through Google Sports, giving you quick updates without needing to open a separate app. But from what I’m gathering, that’s not happening for everyone on One UI 7.

I’ve been looking through comments and posts on forums and places like Reddit. Users claim that they’ve followed their favorite teams in the Google app, enabled notifications, and checked all the settings they can find, but the sports scores just aren’t showing up in the Now Bar.

One user on Reddit, hardwellmouad, posted about the problem, asking if anyone else had the issue and how to fix it. They mentioned not having Google Sports in their Now Bar settings at all, even though other S24 owners seemed to have it. Another user, maulik12v, commented, “I too have that problem. But it shows for me if i didnt clear it from notifications.” This suggests maybe a notification needs to be active for it to appear, which isn’t quite the seamless integration people expected.

Over on Samsung’s own community forums, Sharath_Ramesh detailed their struggle, saying they couldn’t see or enable the Sports from Google option in the Now Bar settings despite having notifications enabled and interests added in the Google app. They even shared screenshots showing the missing option.

Here’s the screenshot they shared: 

It’s a mixed bag of experiences from what I can see. Some users report certain sports showing up fine, like IPL or English football, while others mention specific leagues, such as Australian rugby or football, aren’t appearing. This makes me wonder if the bug is universal or perhaps related to specific sports feeds.

People have tried common troubleshooting steps, including reinstalling apps, clearing caches, following and unfollowing teams, and restarting their phones. For some, updating the Google app seemed to temporarily resolve the issue, as seen in a X exchange where a user reported it suddenly started working after updating Google. But some other users say these fixes don’t seem to make a difference.

It looks like Samsung is starting to look into it, with moderators on their forums asking for error reports and log files to investigate further. Hopefully, a fix is on the horizon soon for those missing out on their quick sports updates.