Galaxy S8, Pie, disable the huge pull down notification banner??

[StanC 1]

After updating to Pie, my S8 has a ridiculously huge notification banner on the Messaging screen when I swipe down the texting contact list. Before Pie there was always a small, single line banner and search icon at the top. I can not stand this horribly huge banner that takes up almost half the screen that slides down when just trying to get to the top of the texting list. Anyone know how to disable this thing? thanks

 

[SpookDroid]

The Pie update focuses on making 'reachability' on the lower portions of the phone a priority, so nope, there is no way to disable this because it is a part of the app. If you are unhappy with the re-design, however, you can always switch to a 3rd party app that doesn't focus on allowing the bottom portions of the screen to be reachable, such as Textra (super customizable), Pulse (very customizable and with the option to sync/text across devices or web), or even Google's Messages (super simplistic but with a free option to sync/text across devices/web). They all have their pros and cons.

 

[StanC 1]

Thanks for the reply and texting options. I am always amazed at the way these phones digress!