Intuitive, context-aware Galaxy AI features bring these personalized experiences to life, transforming your smartphone from a tool to a smart companion that anticipates your needs and offers suggestions designed to make your life more productive, creative and connected.

To deliver a fully personalized experience, your device naturally needs access to certain data. This is what allows AI to understand you and tailor its responses in ways that are genuinely helpful and suited to your lifestyle. To ensure your personal data is safeguarded in this era of AI, we’re constantly innovating data protection on your device, so that nothing falls into the wrong hands.

Personalization Made Possible with the Personal Data Engine

Samsung Electronics’ Personal Data Engine (PDE)[1] is a key component of safely delivering these highly personal experiences. First introduced with the Galaxy S25 series, the PDE is the powerhouse behind some of Galaxy’s most life-changing AI experiences yet. It works silently behind the scenes to learn from your habits and preferences, resulting in a truly personalized, unique experience.

Whether it’s Now Brief[2] guiding you through your day with curated updates or simply finding that one perfect photo in your Gallery with natural language input, Galaxy AI makes every AI-powered action feel seamless. And because the PDE safely processes your data on-device, you can enjoy all the benefits of deeply customized AI — without compromising privacy.

Powerful Advancements with Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection

To further strengthen the security of Galaxy AI experiences, Samsung developed Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection (KEEP)[3] — a powerful new layer of on-device security that protects your most sensitive data without interrupting your experience. First developed for the PDE, KEEP now also safeguards other Galaxy AI features like Smart Suggestions, Now Brief, Samsung Moments and more, running quietly in the background to ensure that each supported app is kept secure.

Think of your phone like a house. Each app has its own room — separate, but all under the same roof. Then there’s Secure Folder,[4] which works like a fully detached guesthouse with its own key, set apart from the main home. It’s great for keeping certain things extra private, especially when you want complete isolation from the rest of your device. But as AI features like the PDE start handling more sensitive tasks in real time, there’s a growing need for security that’s just as strong, yet more connected to your everyday experience.

That’s where KEEP comes in. Imagine turning part of the house into a private suite — still under the same roof, but with its own secure entrance that only you can use. It’s more private than a regular room, but not completely separate like the guesthouse. KEEP works the same way: it creates a secure, dedicated space for individual apps — like the PDE — so it can safely handle your data without sending it anywhere or getting in the way of how you use your phone.

As our mobile experiences become more intelligent, KEEP ensures your most personal data stays safe by design. Together with tools like Secure Folder, it reinforces Samsung’s multi-layered approach to data protection — giving both users and services the right type of security for different privacy needs.

With Galaxy AI becoming more personal, features like the Personal Data Engine and Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection are setting a new standard for mobile intelligence — where personalization and privacy go hand in hand. As these experiences grow smarter and more attuned to your needs, you can rest assured that your most sensitive information will stay safe on your device, exactly where it belongs.

[1] The Personal Data Engine functions when the Personal Data Intelligence menu is on. Analyzed data will be deleted once the Personal Data Intelligence menu is turned off.

[2] Now Brief feature requires a Samsung Account login. Service availability may vary by country, language, device model and apps. Some features may require a network connection.

[3] Available on Galaxy smartphones and tablets with One UI 8 or later.

[4] Secure Folder offers users a separate and protected area of their phone or tablet to store sensitive apps and data. It allows users to set up separate profiles which can duplicate your apps. Users can customize the Secure Folder app and set up their own lock type, including PIN, pattern, password and fingerprint. For enhanced security, Secure Folder users are also provided with an option to hide and encrypt the Secure Folder, which helps keep data safe from advanced cybersecurity threats. While hidden, the apps will stop working to keep your data safe. Once the Secure Folder is opened again, the encryption will be deactivated, and the apps will resume normal operation.

Our phones are constantly in our hands, but have you considered how often they get into the hands of others? Whether it’s entertaining a child, showing something funny to a friend, or sending it in for repair; we hand over our precious devices surprisingly often. Each time we do that, we risk allowing too much access. It’s an invasion of privacy, waiting to happen.

With Pin App and Maintenance Mode, you don’t have to worry about anyone snooping around. You get to decide what people can and can’t see, no matter who’s got their hands on your device. It’s like having a personal bouncer for your phone.

Pin App:

There’s a feeling you get when you hand over your phone to show somebody some pictures. It could be your holiday snaps, or just something funny you saved. But then they accidentally open another app and now they see a photo or message, or anything else you didn’t intend to show them. It’s a horrifying moment, but Pin App can stop that from happening again.

Think of Pin App like a personal bouncer for your apps, stopping people from getting into where they’re not welcome. Instead, it keeps them exactly where they’re supposed to be – in the app you’ve pinned – and nowhere else.

Pin App also acts as a Do Not Disturb sign, preventing awkward pop-up notifications that risk showing sensitive information when all you wanted to do was to share a funny social media post.

Setting up Pin App is quick and easy. Simply go to your Settings, then into Security and Privacy. Next, scroll down and find More Security Settings, and you can toggle the switch for Pin App on or tap on the text to view more settings. For extra security, you can choose ‘Ask for PIN before unpinning’, so whoever has your phone will need a password to get out of the pinned application.

Then, open the app you want to pin. Tap the Recents button (or swipe up and hold if you’re using swipe gestures) then tap the icon above the app. Select the ‘Pin this app’ option, and that’s it.

Settings > Security and privacy > More security settings > Pin app

Maintenance Mode:

Many of us at some point during the lifecycle of our device, will find ourselves submitting our phone to a third-party repair service for that cracked screen or that damaged charging port. More often than not, we need to send our device away for a period of time to have the repair done which brings its own risks including the ability of third parties to access private information on our devices.

Even the most careful among us can’t avoid accidents. When you send your phone away to get that cracked screen or damaged charging port fixed, you’ve got no idea who can access your data.

This is where Samsung’s Maintenance Mode can be used¹. It is specifically designed to protect and hide your personal data from being accessed when your device leaves your hands and is sent away for any type of repair.

When you activate Maintenance Mode, you can set up a distinct user profile, ensuring your primary account and data remain private. This mode can be activated either through the device’s Settings, where you tap Device Care before navigating to and tapping Maintenance Mode; or can be activated through the Samsung Members app.

Once Maintenance Mode has been turned on, you can conceal all your personal data including photos, videos, contacts and messages and prevent any unauthorized access. It also ensures that no data is erased by accident from your device, for instance, by a repair service centre.² If you do need to send your device away for those repair activities, you can also ensure that those accessing it will only have access to basic device features that enable them to perform the necessary service diagnosis.

Settings > Device care > Maintenance mode

Secure Folder:

Samsung Knox provides layers of security and privacy, not only to protect users but also to give them choice in what they want to secure. For those who want to keep their most personal information separate and safe, there’s Secure Folder.

It’s a container that locks away your data so it cannot be accessed through your phone’s regular storage. It can hold your most private data such as calendar schedules and contact information, as well as notes, photos, videos, files and even apps. You can even encrypt the Secure Folder to keep your apps and data even more locked down until the next time you open the folder.

You can find Secure Folder in your apps. The first time you open it, you’ll have to set your lock type to either a PIN, pattern, or password. In addition to these, you can also add fingerprint access – and then you’re good to go. Anything you create within the Secure Folder will be automatically stored here, but you can also move data here any time.

For example, if you want to keep a copy of your driver’s license, you can take a photo of it using the Camera app within Secure Folder, or you can pick a photo in your Gallery, tap the options menu (the three dots), and then select ‘Move to Secure Folder’.

There are a lot of things you can’t control, but when it comes to your privacy, Samsung wants to give you as much control as possible. With Pin App, Maintenance Mode and Secure Folder, you’ve got that extra reassurance against prying eyes.

Settings > Security and privacy > More security settings > Secure Folder

¹ Availability may vary by market and model.
² As a precautionary measure, users are encouraged to back up any personal data before activating Maintenance Mode.