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Samsung has expanded the lineup of smartphones that can download One UI 9, the latest iteration of Android. This mobile operating system is built on top of Android 17 and comes with a slew of new features and AI tricks.

Until now, only those with a Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, or Galaxy S26 Ultra — the latest entries in the Galaxy S lineup — were able to download the One UI 9 beta to test-drive some of the new functionality ahead of its worldwide release. But now, anyone with a Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, Galaxy S25 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 7, or Galaxy Z Flip7 is in for a treat.

For the first time, Samsung is offering its Android 17-based One UI 9 beta to your handset. If you're willing to put up with a few bugs, this beta lets you become one of the first people to road-test the latest Android 17 features.

The public beta has been successfully running for owners of the Galaxy S26 series for a couple of months now, with Samsung rolling out seven beta updates so far and receiving plenty of feedback to optimise the final version.

If you want to download the beta versions of One UI 9 to test upcoming features, you'll need one of the following:

For now, the One UI 9 beta scheme is limited to Galaxy owners living in the UK, the US, Germany, India, Poland, and South Korea. You'll need to download (or open) the Samsung Members app from the Google Play Store to register for beta versions of the next major Android release. Once you've enrolled for beta tests, you'll be able to download the latest in-testing software over-the-air to your Galaxy phone.

These will appear for eligible devices like any other Android software update, so you'll just need to head to Settings > Software Update and then tap Download and Install. This will unlock the latest features weeks before they're available to everyone else — although you might have to put up with a few bugs and glitches.

When it comes to One UI 9, Samsung has added a slew of new tools to its Samsung Notes app, including decorative tapes and a wider variety of pen line styles. Meanwhile, the Contacts app now offers direct access to Creative Studio to create personalised profile cards without switching between apps.

Think of the version of Android that Google announces every year as the basic recipe for the mobile operating system. Manufacturers, like Samsung, Xiaomi, or Nothing, take that recipe and add their own design, features, and built-in apps — adapting it to best suit their hardware.

So, while each of these devices will be updated to Android 17, which was announced by Google earlier this year, that software will be packed with different features and looks.

What can you expect when One UI 9 lands on your Galaxy handset?

One standout new addition is My FanCam, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track individuals in your videos. This crops the clip onto a single person, keeping them in the centre of the frame — no matter what else is going on in the video. This is a non-destructive edit, so you can keep changing who is the main focus of your clip too.

Just open the footage in your Gallery app, tap the Galaxy AI icon, and choose someone for your phone to follow. It'll crop the footage to keep them centre stage, which is perfect if you're creating content on the move.

It's inspired by K-pop fan culture, where fans record individual performers on-stage. Instead of zooming while filming, you record a wide shot and let AI reframe the clip later. Samsung announced the feature with its Galaxy Z Fold8, but later brought the camera feature to the more affordable Galaxy S26 FE. Both of these devices ship with One UI 9 out of the box, while those with older handsets will need to wait for the beta programme to run its course.

Next up, One UI 9 adds the ability to build custom cards in Now Brief. You can pull information from apps like Samsung Health, Weather, and YouTube to create personalised widgets that bring together everything you need to know from these applications. Samsung has also added a Google search bar that sits fixed above your dock on the home screen, though you can turn it off if it's not your thing.

Elsewhere, Quick Panel — the customisable menu accessed by swiping down from the top of the screen on Galaxy devices – has been refreshed to give smartphone owners more control over the layout. Controls to manage screen brightness, sound levels, and the built-in media player are now independently adjustable – with more size options to suit individual preferences. This is similar to the granular customisation added by Apple in iOS 18 in 2024.

Ahead of the launch of One UI 9, Google has worked with Meta — the parent company behind Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp — to bolster image and video quality shot within social media apps on Android devices. As a result of this collaboration, the entire pipeline from image capture to upload has been reworked on Android, ensuring photos and videos are uploaded in the highest possible quality.

This is something that has long been standard on iPhone, explaining the prevalence of iOS devices for social media managers and other professions.

Photos and videos captured within Instagram and WhatsApp are shot in Ultra HDR, also known as Super HDR on Samsung-branded devices. This format offers a wider dynamic range and deeper colours. Furthermore, video stabilisation has been improved, so there's no need to capture content using the default Camera app on your Galaxy device and then upload it separately in the Meta-owned app of your choice for the best quality.

One UI 9 also introduces enhanced protection against suspicious apps and potential threats.

When new high-risk apps are detected, the mobile operating system will automatically warn Galaxy owners and block any execution or installation.

It can also recommend that you delete specific software that could cause a security headache.

Accessibility is significantly improved by an adjustable Mouse Key speed, which enables smoother cursor control and a combined TalkBack package that brings together features previously offered separately by Google and Samsung. The new Text Spotlight feature — which displays selected text larger or more clearly in a floating window — has also been added to make reading easier.

If Samsung follows a similar release schedule to previous versions of its One UI software, we'd expect to see the South Korean firm open the One UI 9.0 beta to many more devices in the next few weeks or months. However, it's worth noting that Google has shared the minimum hardware requirements for Gemini Intelligence, and many recent flagship smartphones from Samsung won't make the cut.