Decision time for Samsung users

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Updated on Apr. 12 with the latest update on this month’s security updates.

Samsung has suddenly confirmed an enticing offer for millions of Galaxy owners—an early upgrade that no one was expecting instead of the usual monthly update. Users must carefully decide what to do next. Doing nothing is not an option. Samsung’s latest update is critical, with phones now vulnerable to attack.

As SammyFans put it, “Samsung brings joy to millions of Galaxy users – Are you one of them? If you own a Galaxy phone, today feels like a little gift from Samsung. The company just rolled out new One UI 8.5 beta updates and opened the beta program to even more Galaxy devices."

So, who exactly is this for? It seems that more owners of Galaxy S24 Series as well as S23 Series phones can upgrade to the new OS under the beta program, albeit only in certain markets for now: India, South Korea, the U.K. and the United States. Those phones join the Galaxy S25 Series in the beta program.

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Is it worth the upgrade, given the pros and cons of installing betas on phones? This allows Google’s coveted AirDrop integration to securely drop-share with Apple devices, originally a Pixel-only option. It also addresses lock screen and Bluetooth issues and adds a raft of new camera upgrades.

SammyFans also reports that “the Galaxy Z Fold5 and Galaxy Z Flip5 Beta registration is now live in South Korea and the US. While the Galaxy A36 5G users living in India have already received the first One UI 8.5 Beta update.”

More critically, Samsung is expanding availability of April’s security update, which is wrapped into the beta or available for those sticking to One UI 8 the usual way. This includes are 14 critical new updates, including one from Google that affects Android more widely and leaves phones vulnerable to attack.

Opting for a beta is not an easy or automatic choice, and it comes with risks of instability and bugs. But given the long-standing delays to Samsung’s final release updates, plenty of Galaxy owners will be tempted into making the move. Either way, you need to decide now whether to stick or twist.

Meanwhile, “Samsung has started shipping the April 2026 update to the Galaxy A lineup,” SammyFans says. “You may be surprised knowing the first device getting the latest patch is neither a recent model nor the one you would have expected.”

Samsung is now updating the Galaxy A54. “It will gradually expand to even more Galaxy devices. Not just A, but M and F series models are also eligible.”

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But the website also now warns that when it comes to One UI 8.5, “Samsung has delayed the One UI 8.5 rollout for the Galaxy S25 series, and these two reasons could be responsible for this move. It’s expected that the 9th beta may not be the final, and we may have a 10th coming soon. These test firmwares may be released in April, and the stable release could get delayed to late this month.”

One possible reason for this might be the user backlash when it seemed Samsung might decide the fairly recent Galaxy S25 would not receive the same software updates as the Galaxy S26. There will be disappointment at any delays.

“It’s been four months since Samsung started testing One UI 8.5 for the S25 series, and the company has apparently failed to deliver new features to the phone users derived from the S26 series. Users allege that the company is intentionally keeping the new One UI 8.5 experience limited to the S26 series.”