Samsung has just rolled out the first One UI 9.0 beta for the Galaxy S26 series and officially detailed a list of new features coming with the update. The One UI 9 changelog confirms a bunch of new additions, including Quick Settings panel customisation, a new Tape feature in Samsung Notes, a refreshed media player and more. Here's a complete look at every One UI 9 feature confirmed so far along with the leaked ones still in the pipeline.
Complete List of One UI 9 Features on Samsung Phones
The first One UI 9 beta is rolling out to the Galaxy S26 series in Germany, South Korea, the UK and the US. India and Poland will receive the update starting on May 26. Samsung has also officially revealed several new One UI 9 features, and here we have compiled all of them.
Customisable Quick Settings Panel
Let's start with the Quick Panel customisation options. It got a major overhaul with One UI 8.5, and now with One UI 9, Samsung is bringing even more personalisation options. Samsung has confirmed that you can rearrange and customise the Quick Panel controls and resize the brightness slider, volume slider and media player sections with more size options to choose from.
You can, in fact, resize all the elements on the Quick Settings panel. There's also a structural change in which Samsung is separating the sound mode button from the volume slider. It gives you more flexibility in how the Quick Panel is laid out. Earlier, there was a leak that showed that Samsung was decoupling toggles from sliders, and the latest One UI 9 beta confirms it.
New Tape Feature in Samsung Notes
The Tape feature in Samsung Notes is truly a new addition in One UI 9. Samsung Notes is getting a new Tape feature that lets you cover parts of your notes with digital tape and reveal them when needed. It's basically a clever way to hide sensitive information when sharing a screenshot.
Think of it like the redaction feature built right into Samsung Notes. The update also adds a variety of new tapes and pen styles for writing and drawing, which should be helpful for journaling, classroom notes or creative work.
Creative Studio in the Contacts App
Samsung debuted Creative Studio with One UI 8.5, and now with One UI 9, the company is integrating it into the stock Contacts app. This lets you create personalised profile cards for your contacts without having to switch between apps, which makes the whole process more seamless. You can enter a prompt, and Creative Studio generates a cool profile card and image which can be saved for any contact.
You can also customise the style, text, effect and image in numerous ways. It is a relatively small addition but a useful feature if you like personalising how your contacts show up on your Samsung phone.
Refreshed Media Player
According to a recent leak, the One UI 9 media player is being revamped and getting a more dynamic and colourful look. The biggest change is that the seek bar now reflects the colour palette of the album art. It replaces the current static white bar with a more fluid and visually appealing progress indicator. We checked it on One UI 9 Beta, and it's indeed live. It also brings circular control buttons and waveform animations when music is playing.
Game Booster Panel Improvements
Those who love playing games on their Samsung phones will love this feature. One UI 9 adds important settings to the Game Booster panel. It now lets you adjust screen resolution, screenshot format and other settings directly without leaving the game.
You can also check FPS, CPU and GPU usage, disable auto brightness and change the performance mode. Earlier, you had to exit the game or open the Game Booster app separately to tweak these settings, but now everything sits inside the game as an overlay.
Location Access Transparency
This is a privacy-focused feature coming to One UI 9, and it's directly imported from Android 17. On One UI 9, a blue indicator will appear at the status bar whenever an app accesses your location. You can tap the indicator in the Quick Settings panel to see exactly which app is using your location. It's similar to the green dot indicator Android already shows for camera and microphone access, and it's a good step for privacy transparency.
Major Accessibility Upgrades
Just like on Android 17, One UI 9 is also getting major accessibility upgrades. First off, Text Spotlight lets you tap on any text to enlarge it and highlight it in its own floating window. You can also customise font size and colours. Next, Select to Speak allows you to pick any item on the screen, including text or images, and hear it read without turning on TalkBack.
Physical keyboard shortcuts are also new, which let you control accessibility settings without touching the screen. The Mouse Keys feature has been enhanced with adjustable speed and acceleration controls. Not to mention, you can now use the keyboard's number pad to point and click.
Glassier Translucent UI Effects
Although the latest One UI 9 Beta doesn't bring any visual changes, it has been reported since One UI 8.5 that Samsung is working to adopt a translucent, glass-like visual design. One UI 9 will have background blur for several system elements, including the Quick Settings panel, volume sliders, notification shade and more.
The wallpaper will remain visible in the background, which will create a layered look. It's not as aggressive as Apple's Liquid Glass design language from iOS 26, but it makes One UI 9 look more modern and in line with 2026's design language.
Tap to Share
This is one of the leaked One UI 9 features and a very interesting one. Samsung is bringing an AirDrop-like file-sharing experience to Galaxy phones via NFC, and it lives inside Quick Share. The feature has already been spotted in action in a leaked One UI 9 build running on Android 17. While Gallery, Quick Share or the share panel is open, you can simply tap your phone against another supported device, and the selected files transfer instantly.
If you do it from the home screen, the phones swap contact profiles instead, similar to how NameDrop allows transferring contacts between iPhones. Note that Tap to Share looks like an Android 17 feature and may not be limited to Samsung phones. Google has been working on a similar "Gesture Exchange" implementation inside Play Services, which suggests the feature could eventually roll out to non-Samsung Android phones too.
Warranty & Care Hub
Samsung has been working on a new Warranty & Care app for One UI 9 that could simplify the after-sales experience for Galaxy users. The new app shows the warranty status of your Samsung phone as well as a troubleshooting search bar and a diagnostics shortcut. You can also get repair cost estimates and schedule and track service centre visits in real time.
Not to mention, Bixby is also tied into this app, so you can ask for help via voice commands instead of navigating through menus. Currently, most of the features inside the app are not functional, and the app is hidden from the app drawer, which is likely why it didn't ship with Beta 1.
Samsung DeX Enhancements
Next, Samsung DeX is getting two useful tweaks. First off, it lets you move an app window from one virtual desktop to another using a menu at the top of the window. It's much faster than the current drag-and-drop method. The second one adds desktop previews at the top of the Recent screen, so you can switch between virtual desktops with a single tap. Sure, both are small changes, but if you are a regular DeX user, these new changes will make it a lot like a proper desktop OS.
Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) for Better Security
Samsung is bringing ARM's Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) to Galaxy phones with One UI 9, which could make Galaxy phones a lot harder to hack. As we reported earlier, with One UI 9 Memory Tagging feature, users will get a new toggle inside a dedicated Memory Tagging Extension menu. It will have two options: Enable MTE until you turn it off and Enable MTE for a single session.
Thanks to this security feature, Galaxy phones can patch memory leaks, prevent unauthorised app access and make it harder for hackers to exploit memory-level exploits.
Stronger Protection Against Suspicious Apps
On the security front, One UI 9 is bringing stronger protection against suspicious apps and potential security threats. The system can now detect high-risk apps and warn the user before the installation. It can also block the app's installation or execution and recommend deleting the app. Basically, Samsung is improving its existing Auto Blocker feature, which should make Galaxy phones a little harder to compromise via malicious apps and sideloaded APKs.
Material Detection for Samsung Foldables
We know that Samsung foldables accumulate debris and dust which may damage the inner display. Samsung is addressing this issue in One UI 9 with a new Foreign Material Detection feature. The feature has been spotted in leaked One UI 9 builds, and it's designed to warn users when their foldable doesn't fold completely because of foreign particles like dust or debris.
By the way, the leaked code strings also reference three upcoming foldables: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (Q8), the Galaxy Z Flip 8 (B8) and the wider Galaxy Wide Fold (H8). Users will be able to turn off the detection alert if they don't want it, and the feature may roll out to older foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 since it doesn't require any extra hardware.
These are all the One UI 9 features we have found so far, based on Samsung's official Beta 1 announcement and leaked features over the past few months. Samsung is still actively developing One UI 9, so expect new Galaxy AI capabilities and features to come up in the next few months.
To check if your phone will get the update, go ahead and check out our One UI 9 eligible devices list. By the way, the stable rollout is expected to arrive in July 2026 along with the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and the rumoured Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide.
