At the 2018 Samsung Developer Conference, one of the big announcements was a big refresh for Samsung's custom Android interface. The Samsung Experience is gone, and in its place, we have One UI.
From understanding what in the world One UI is to seeing when you'll be able to get it on your phone, here's everything you need to know.
The latest One UI news
November 15, 2018 — Samsung One UI beta also available for Galaxy S9/S9+ in the U.S.
Not long after Galaxy S9/S9+ handsets in South Korea gained access to the One UI beta it's also started rolling out to folks in the United States.
You should be able to register for the beta right now in the Samsung+ app, and once you do, an update will be waiting for you under Settings -> Software Update -> Download Updates Manually.
As with any beta, expect a few bugs here and there. Right now, Samsung warns that Sprint Calling Plus and biometric authentication with banking apps isn't working.
November 15, 2018 — Samsung One UI beta now rolling out to Galaxy S9 handsets in South Korea
The day has finally come (for some of our readers, at least) to start playing around with One UI! If you own a Galaxy S9 or S9+ and live in South Korea, your phone should receive an update to the One UI beta anytime now if it hasn't already. There's currently no word when the beta will open for the Note 9 or when it'll expand to the U.S, but I'd imagine those details will be made available soon.
All the big details
What exactly is One UI?
One UI is the name of Samsung's new Android interface and serves as the successor to The Samsung Experience that previously replaced TouchWiz.
One of the biggest goals with One UI is to help users "focus on the task at hand." To achieve this, One UI removes a lot of clutter from the Samsung Experience and makes things much cleaner. For example, the settings page is being simplified even more and regrouping certain settings together so that they're easier to get to. The phone, notes, email, and other Samsung apps also have a new look to only show essential information.
Samsung's also marketing One UI as being more natural, saying that it's "restructured the way we interact with our devices." Buttons that are traditionally towards the top of the screen have been moved closer to the bottom, and in many of Samsung's apps (such as Messages and Clock), the top area is reserved exclusively for viewing content you don't have to interact with.
Third, One UI aims to "be visibly comfortable." Colors have been tweaked to provide better clarity, and based on the color of the phone you have, elements of the UI will be tweaked to match it.
What Android version is it based on?
One UI is based on Android 9 Pie, and as such, has all of the features from Pie that we've come to know and love.
That means One UI has new gesture navigation, a bunch of new emoji, improved notifications, and more on top of all of the One UI-specific changes.
What phones will be updated to One UI?
So far, Samsung's confirmed that the following phones will be updated to One UI:
- Galaxy Note 9
- Galaxy S9
- Galaxy S9+
- Galaxy Note 8
- Galaxy S8
- Galaxy S8+
When can I get it?
As of November 15, 2018, Samsung's begun rolling out its One UI open beta to users over in South Korea and the United States for the Galaxy S9/S9+. At some point soon, the Galaxy Note 9 should follow as well.
One UI will exit the beta stage and be officially released to the masses in January 2019 for the Galaxy Note 9 and S9/S9+. It's been confirmed that the Note 8 and S8/S8+ will follow at a later date, but when that date will be is unknown.
How to get Android 9 Pie and One UI on your Samsung Galaxy S9
