Samsung launched the stable One UI 8.5 rollout on May 6, 2026, starting in South Korea and expanding globally from May 11. Built on Android 16, it is a mid-cycle feature update sitting between One UI 8.0 and the upcoming One UI 9. Most of the features below were exclusive to the Galaxy S26 series at launch. With the One UI 8.5 stable rollout, they are now available on the Galaxy S25, S24, S23, and several mid-range and budget devices. Here is every confirmed new feature in the update.
Call Screening: Bixby Answers Your Unknown Calls
One of the most immediately practical additions in One UI 8.5 is Call Screening. When an unknown number calls, Bixby can answer on your behalf, ask the caller who they are and why they are calling, and display a live transcript on your screen as the conversation happens. You watch in real time and decide whether to join the call or let it go. You can configure it to screen unknown numbers automatically in the background, with the transcript saved for review afterward. To enable it, open the Phone app, go to Settings, and tap Call screening.
Smarter Bixby: Multi-Step Tasks Across Multiple Apps
Bixby has been rebuilt as an agentic AI that can execute complex, multi-step tasks across different apps using plain language. You can say something like "find a recent photo of my dog and send it to Amara on WhatsApp" and Bixby handles every step of that instruction without you switching between apps manually. This is the most significant change to Bixby since Samsung introduced it, moving it from a voice assistant that triggers individual commands to one that understands intent and completes full workflows.
Advanced Audio Eraser Remove Unwanted Sounds From Videos
Advanced Audio Eraser lets you isolate and remove specific sounds from a recorded video after filming. Wind noise, crowd sounds, traffic, and background music can be identified and removed individually while keeping the audio you want intact. This is a video editing capability that previously required desktop software and brings meaningful post-production control directly to the Gallery app on your Galaxy phone.
Photo Assist: AI Editing Inside Samsung Gallery
Photo Assist extends Samsung's existing Galaxy AI photo editing tools with new capabilities including object removal improvements, background replacement, and generative fill for completing images where elements have been removed. The editing tools are accessible directly inside the Gallery app without requiring third-party software.
Creative Studio: Generate and Edit Visual Content
Creative Studio is a new dedicated workspace for AI-generated and AI-edited visual content. It combines image generation, style transformation, and creative editing tools into a single interface, giving users a space to produce custom artwork, stylized images, and edited photos beyond what the standard Gallery editing tools cover.
Quick Share With Apple Devices: The Cross-Platform Transfer Samsung Users Wanted
One UI 8.5 enables Quick Share file transfers between Samsung Galaxy devices and Apple iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Previously Quick Share was limited to Samsung and Android devices. The new cross-platform support works over NFC and Wi-Fi Direct, making file transfers between Galaxy and Apple hardware as seamless as AirDrop. For users who work in mixed-device environments or regularly share files with iPhone users, this is one of the most practically useful additions in the entire update.
Customizable Quick Panel More Control Over Your Notification Shade
The Quick Panel has been redesigned to give users more control over the layout and arrangement of toggles and shortcuts. Brightness and volume sliders are thicker and easier to interact with, media player controls can be resized independently, and Sound Mode and Display Mode toggles can be separated from the slider area for a cleaner layout. The changes make the notification shade feel more deliberate and easier to use quickly without precision.
Document Scanner Improvements Faster and More Accurate
The built-in document scanner has been significantly improved in One UI 8.5 with better edge detection, improved automatic cropping, and faster processing. Multi-page document scanning is more reliable, and the scanned output quality is noticeably sharper than in previous One UI versions.
New Lock Screen Options: Clock Fonts, Layouts, and Widgets
The lock screen gains additional clock font choices, more automatic layout options that adapt to your wallpaper, and expanded widget support. Lock screen customization has been expanded meaningfully without requiring Good Lock modules to access the additional options.
Pollen Index in Samsung Weather Seasonal Health Information
The Samsung Weather app now displays a pollen index alongside the standard weather forecast. For users with allergies or respiratory sensitivities, the pollen level information appears with the daily and hourly forecast, making it easier to plan outdoor activities around high-pollen periods without opening a separate app.
Time Zone Converter in Clock App Remove the Third-Party App
The Clock app now includes a built-in time zone converter, allowing users to check the current time in any city or region directly without needing a separate world clock app. The addition is straightforward but removes a common reason Galaxy users install third-party utilities.
Samsung Notes Table Support Structured Note Taking
Samsung Notes now supports inserting tables directly within notes. Users can add rows and columns, resize cells, and format table content alongside text, images, and handwritten content. The addition brings Samsung Notes closer to a full productivity tool for users who structure information in tabular form.
Theft Protection: New Security Layer
One UI 8.5 adds Theft Protection, a system-level security feature that makes a stolen Galaxy device harder to factory reset, resell, or access without the original owner's credentials. The feature activates automatically and works passively in the background without requiring manual configuration.
Direct Voicemail: Access Voicemails Without Calling In
Direct Voicemail brings visual voicemail support to the Phone app, displaying voicemail messages as a list that can be read and played back individually without dialing into a voicemail system. The feature requires carrier support and is currently available on compatible networks.
Which Devices Get All of These Features
The Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7, Galaxy Z Fold 6, Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Tab S11, and Galaxy Tab S10 receive the most complete One UI 8.5 feature set. Mid-range devices including the Galaxy A56, A26, A16, M56, and others receive the interface updates, security improvements, and most productivity features. Some Galaxy AI capabilities particularly the more demanding agentic Bixby functions are limited to devices with sufficient NPU hardware, which in practice means flagship and upper mid-range models.
How to Get One UI 8.5
Open Settings on your Galaxy phone or tablet, tap Software update, then tap Download and install. If the update is available for your device and region, it will appear immediately.
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