Summary
- One UI 6 brings a revamped user interface with new notifications, quick settings, and a redesigned media player.
- The settings menu has also been redesigned.
- New customization options for the lock screen, including the ability to change the clock position and access new font options and stylings. Additionally, the update introduces a customizable camera widget and new capture modes.
Android 14 is just around the corner, and while people with other devices (most notably Google Pixels) have been able to get in on the fun, Samsung's own devices have been left out of it so far. That's changing though, as you can now test out One UI 6 on the Samsung Galaxy S23 series. We've sideloaded the open beta on our Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and it's officially available for download in the United States, Germany, and South Korea.
In case you have an eligible device and want to give the One UI 6 open beta a shot, you should be able to register for the beta program by heading over to the Samsung Members app and tapping on the One UI beta banner. On the following screen, tap on the enroll button and wait a few minutes for the app to process your enrollment. After that, head over to the software update section in your device settings and tap on check for updates to download the open beta release. It may not necessarily be available in your region yet, either. Read on to see some of the newest features in One UI 5 that we've been able to spot!
We'll be updating this article with more features as we find them, so be sure to let us know in the comments what you find too!
One UI 6: New features and redesigns
New notifications, quick settings, and media player
One UI 6 features a pretty massively re-done user interface. It almost takes inspiration from MIUI, with bubbly elements and rounded corners. Each notification is actually its own notification for a change, and the quick settings panel is improved, too.
What I love most is the new media player, which fills the entire media player with the album cover of what you're listening to. It looks playful, and matches Google's overall Material Design language significantly more than it did previously.
Redesigned settings
The settings menu has been redesigned to fit the rest of the user interface too, but most significant is the moving of some actual options. The battery menu has been lifted above the "device care" section and is now its own option just beside the display settings.
Customizable lock screen
You can now customize the position of the clock on the lock screen, along with new font options and stylings for the lock screen. This was previously possible to do with a Good Lock module, though Good Lock isn't available everywhere.
Custom camera widget and new capture modes
You can add a custom camera widget to your home screen, and that will launch your camera with pre-applied settings. It's useful if you like to shoot in pro mode on the back camera a lot for example, but there are quite a lot of options here.
There are also new camera capture modes, that aim to decrease the amount of processing done. This ensures that photos are taken faster but may not be as good in quality. Finally, there are new alignment options for watermarks.
Auto blocker
Samsung introduced Auto Blocker in One UI 6, which appears to be a pretty novel solution to something that other OEMs haven't really introduced before. It's off by default in the first open beta anyway, but it claims to block apps from unauthorized stores, turn on security checks for apps and can block commands via a USB cable. It's unclear what commands it may be talking about. It specifically mentions blocking the installation of system software via USB.
Unknown tracker alerts
The use of trackers like AirTags and Tiles to stalk people isn't outlandish, and companies have been trying to figure out how combat it. One UI 6 adds support for tracker alerts, where your phone will keep a look out to see if any trackers it doesn't recognize are following you around. If it spots them it'll tell you about it, and from there you can figure out what you want to do with that information.
This is a Google-made feature introduced in Android 14, and Google Pixels have it too.
One UI 6 brings some great improvements so far
One UI 6 is a fantastic improvement on One UI 5 and looks great, though it's obviously merely just the first open beta so far. There are obviously going to be bugs, and I've already ran into some visual problems. Given how delayed this was (with a release announced and then retracted... twice), it's unsurprising. On the surface, it may not look like a massive update, but it is a pretty large visual overhaul.
To try the beta, you can enroll through the Samsung Members app. However, as with any beta, it's important to be careful with your data and make sure you back it up beforehand. There may be bugs in this build, and sometimes bugs can be serious. We don't recommend using it as your daily driver either, but you can do so if you're willing to take the risk.
For now, One UI 6 is shaping up to be a pretty substantial updates that users can expect to see on their Samsung devices in the coming months. We'll be sure to keep an eye out for new updates, and be sure to come back for more One UI 6 coverage as we discover new features and other changes in the future!