- Samsung started rolling out the finished version of One UI 8.5 on May 6
- The company is starting with South Korea, but other countries should get it soon
- Initially, One UI 8.5 is coming to high-end models from the last couple of years
It's been a long wait, but Samsung is finally taking One UI 8.5 out of beta and rolling it out to some phones and tablets. It’s actually been available on the Samsung Galaxy S26 series since launch, but all previous handsets were still waiting for it — until now.
As per an announcement on Samsung’s newsroom, the official rollout started on May 6 in South Korea, but “additional regions [are] to follow”, so you probably won’t have the update yet, but you likely will do soon if you have a compatible phone.
Initially, One UI 8.5 is coming to the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy S25 FE, Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy S24 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7, Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Tab S11 series, and Galaxy Tab S10 series. So, in other words, most of the company’s high-end phones and tablets from the last couple of years.
But that’s just the start — we already know that One UI 8.5 will be coming to other devices too, since the beta is available on the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, Galaxy S23 FE, and Galaxy A36. You’ll just probably have to wait a bit longer to get the finished version on those phones.
AirDrop support and other improvements
One UI 8.5 should be worth the wait, though, as it'll bring numerous features and improvements, including AirDrop support over Quick Share, additional upgrades to Quick Share (including the ability to identify people in photos and suggest sending them to the subjects), and improvements to Photo Assist.
One UI 8.5 also brings the ability to use Audio Broadcast to send your voice to a connected speaker while you’re talking into your phone, the ability to see files on other Galaxy devices within the My Files app, and improvements to power saving mode to increase your phone’s battery life.
Those are the headline features, but there are smaller changes too, including tweaks to the Weather app and security enhancements, so there’s a lot here, though not every feature will necessarily be available on every phone.
Still, if you have any of the devices that are first in line for One UI 8.5, then it’s worth keeping an eye out for. You’ll probably get an alert when it’s available, but to manually check, head to Settings > Software update.
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