Millions More Galaxy Phones Join Samsung's Free Upgrade List
Samsung's One UI 9 beta keeps expanding, with the Galaxy S23 FE, M34, Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 all confirmed in testing this week by firmware tracker Tarun Vats, alongside a leaked Galaxy A37 Geekbench listing. That brings the total to twelve devices in active development. Here's the full confirmed list, a recap of what One UI 8.5 already changed, and what's new on top of it before the Galaxy Z Fold 8 launches with One UI 9 next month.
After the rapid rollout of One UI 8.5 and last month's One UI 9 beta expansion across four flagship generations, Samsung isn't slowing down.
In the last few days, firmware tracker Tarun Vats confirmed One UI 9 beta internal testing has started for the Galaxy S23 FE, Galaxy M34, Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, with a Galaxy A37 build also spotted on Samsung’s servers.
That brings the confirmed One UI 9 testing lineup to the Galaxy S23, S24, S24 FE, S25, S26, A35, A56, A57, A37, M34, Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6. Samsung is now running development across four generations of flagships, four A-series devices, one M-series budget phone and two 2024 foldables, all at the same time.
Samsung's One UI 9 testing has expanded again to new devices and revealed more features. Firmware tracker Tarun Vats confirmed the Galaxy A36 has now entered testing too, which means there are now five A series devices in line to receive the One UI 9 beta update, alongside the ultra-budget Galaxy M-series phones.
The full list now includes the A57 and A37, the A56 and A36, the A55, and the A34, which all now have specific build codes assigned. That's a clear sign that Samsung is preparing the A-series for One UI 9 as a coordinated wave rather than one device at a time.
On the flagship side, Samsung’s own Beta Program community manager confirmed (via Tarun Vats) that One UI 9 Beta 4 is scheduled for the Galaxy S26 series next week, keeping up the two-week release schedule. There are two features tipped to arrive with it: dock background customisation, letting you set a custom image or colour behind your app dock, and new multi-finger gesture support for quicker app switching and shortcuts.
The Galaxy S25 FE has now joined the list too, according to SamMobile. A new firmware build, version S731BXXU7CZG2, was spotted on Samsung's server this week, carrying a higher version number than the phone's current One UI 8.5 software, a clear sign testing has started there as well. Samsung's still expected to debut One UI 9 stable with the Z Fold 8 series later this month before working through the rest of the lineup, so most of these devices, including the S25 FE, likely won't see it land for another couple of months after that.
Beyond the growing device list, Samsung’s Good Lock suite is catching up to One UI 9 too. Good Lock is Samsung’s official app for deep customisation, lock screens, themes, gestures, and more, and LockStar is the module specifically for lock screen and always-on display tinkering.
LockStar’s latest version, v9.0.00.5, added full One UI 9 support this week, following a broader Good Lock update that’s currently rolling out in Korea.
Samsung has also kept up a two-week release schedule with the Galaxy S26’s beta program. Beta 1 landed May 13, Beta 2 on May 26, and Beta 3 on June 16, with each one focused more on stability than new features.
Beta 3 alone fixed nine separate issues: camera preview cropping, inaccurate 30x zoom focus, lock screen weather and battery widgets not updating, S Pen swipe gestures failing on the home screen, a My Files scrolling bug, random reboots during video streaming, and a white or black screen glitch when receiving calls or pulling down the status bar.
Since One UI 8.5 already delivered the big visual overhaul, splitting the Quick Panel's brightness, volume and media controls into separate, resizable sliders, One UI 9 has mostly been about refinement rather than reinvention.
The most notable additions are on the accessibility side: a combined TalkBack update that merges Samsung and Google's screen-reader tools into one system, a new Text Spotlight floating zoom tool for easier reading, and a high-risk app detection feature that warns you and blocks execution before an unsigned or suspicious app can run.
One UI 9 builds on a One UI 8.5 rollout that was AI-heavy. That release brought AI Call Screening, real-time voicemail transcripts, a smarter Bixby powered by Perplexity, and Creative Studio for AI-generated wallpapers and photo edits. It also added Quick Share compatibility with Apple's AirDrop, a fully customisable Quick Panel, and Privacy Alerts that flag apps overusing your location.
The full picture still lands next month at Samsung Unpacked London, when a stable One UI 9 lands on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series. Other Galaxy phones will get the update after that, with flagships and recent foldables first, while older Fan Edition and A-series devices will get the update later.