Samsung One UI 8.5 Update: It’s Good, Not Great – Here’s Why

HIGHLIGHTS 

• Fully customizable Quick Settings tiles with resizing and reshaping
• AI-powered photo editing with on-device privacy controls
• Smarter wallpapers that adapt to photos and weather
• New theft protection that hard-locks your phone automatically
• Cleaner UI with better one-hand usability

A Quick Settings Panel That Finally Obeys You

Samsung One UI 8.5 turns the Quick Settings panel into a playground for personalization. Every control tile now comes with visible handles, letting you drag, resize, and reshape them into standard icons or elegant pill-style buttons. It’s not just cosmetic—it’s practical.

Samsung even lets you reshape the volume and brightness sliders, rotate them vertically, and place them wherever your thumb naturally rests. If things get messy (which they will), a Reset Panel option brings everything back to default in seconds. No stress, no regrets.

Small detail, big win.

Lock Screen & Home Screen: Subtle Changes, Big Impact

Samsung understands that users stare at their lock screen dozens of times a day. That’s why One UI 8.5 adds three new animated clock fonts and, more importantly, a font thickness slider. It’s a tiny tweak, but it makes the lock screen feel handcrafted rather than pre-built.

Home screen folders now come with an opacity slider, allowing them to fade into the background or turn completely transparent. When fully see-through, folders almost look like floating mini-apps—clean, modern, and oddly satisfying.

Wallpapers That Think for Themselves

Setting a wallpaper is no longer a trial-and-error process. Samsung One UI 8.5 intelligently detects the subject of your photo and automatically adjusts the clock and widgets around it. Whether it’s your pet or a portrait, nothing awkwardly overlaps anymore.

Add to that live weather animations directly on the wallpaper, and your phone quietly starts feeling alive—rain, clouds, or sunshine reacting in real time.

Even navigation feels smarter now. The back gesture preview shows where you’re going before you commit, making multitasking smoother and more predictable.

Productivity Features You’ll Use Every Day

Samsung didn’t forget the basics. Screen recording now supports partial screen capture, allowing you to record only what matters. The phone can auto-detect the area, or you can resize it manually—perfect for tutorials or quick demos.

The Calculator app also gets surprisingly intelligent. Copy a math equation anywhere, open Calculator, and it instantly nudges you with the answer. Taps feel more responsive too, thanks to color-coded keystroke highlights that improve visibility.

And yes, even the flashlight got smarter. When it’s on, a Now Bar control appears on the lock screen, letting you turn it off without unlocking the phone. Once you use it, there’s no going back.

AI Photo Editing That Respects Your Privacy

Samsung’s Photo Assist tools are easily one of the strongest parts of Samsung One UI 8.5. You can erase unwanted objects, move and resize subjects, or even sketch rough shapes and let AI turn them into realistic additions.

Selfies and pet photos get extra love with Photo Style, transforming them into artistic looks like 3D cartoons. What truly stands out, though, is control.

With the “Process data only on device” toggle, all AI edits stay on your phone. No uploads. No servers. Just your data, your rules. A new Edit History option also lets you revisit every change you’ve made, which is incredibly useful for non-destructive editing.

Gallery Gets Cleaner—and Safer

The Gallery app now automatically sorts content by shot type—portraits, selfies, and videos—without you lifting a finger. It’s one of those features you don’t notice immediately, but once you do, manual sorting feels ancient.

For sensitive media, there’s a new Private Album protected by fingerprint authentication. It’s simple, effective, and exactly what most users want without extra complexity.

Security goes a step further with Failed Authentication Lock. If someone repeatedly fails to unlock a protected app, the entire phone hard-locks automatically. It’s a quiet but powerful anti-theft feature that works in the background.

Clock, Accessibility & Eye Comfort Improvements

Alarms now reflect real-time weather, so the moment you wake up, you know what’s waiting outside. The World Clock also gets a thoughtful upgrade, letting you compare time zones with a scroll wheel while clearly showing day and night status.

Accessibility sees meaningful progress with Dim Strobing, a vision enhancement that detects flashing visuals in videos and automatically dims the screen. It’s designed to reduce eye strain and protect users sensitive to strobe effects—a genuinely responsible addition.

Polished Interface, Better One-Hand Use

Samsung One UI 8.5 looks cleaner without shouting about it. The Settings menu removes unnecessary descriptions, creating a more organized, minimalist layout. The search bar moves to the bottom, making one-handed use far more comfortable.

Rounded corners, smoother animations in the Quick Panel, and even a customizable battery icon background all contribute to a UI that feels refined rather than redesigned.