5 Must-Use One UI 8.5 Features
One UI 8.5 is set to roll out soon, and a wide range of Galaxy devices are preparing for this major software update. This version isn’t just a minor improvement—it brings a host of visual enhancements, new features, and expanded customization options that significantly elevate the user experience. Among the many changes, there are five standout features that I’m particularly excited about. I hope Samsung will make these available on most compatible devices.
Modern Liquid Glass interface with smoother animations
One UI 8.5 introduces the Liquid Glass design for the first time on Galaxy devices. The inspiration for this design is clearly drawn from Apple’s aesthetic, but it has been adapted to fit Samsung’s style. The updated design language emphasizes transparency, floating surfaces, rounded controls, and soft depth effects across core apps and the system UI, giving One UI a more premium and modern look.
Part of this new design includes floating navigation bars with semi-transparent panels and more pronounced blur and shadow layering to create a “glass” feel. You’ll see this in the Settings app and first-party apps like Dialer, Gallery, and Calculator, replacing the traditional flat, rectangular navigation bar. The back button and other controls appear as separated floating elements, allowing more space for content.
The new Liquid Glass design is most prominent in Samsung’s own apps, but other areas such as notifications, widgets, and the control center also receive a subtle glass-style treatment.
Fully customizable Quick Panel
The Quick Panel in One UI 8.5 is getting its most significant customization update yet. Users can now move tiles and widgets wherever they want, resize them, or change their orientation to create a layout that suits their preferences. It’s even possible to remove every toggle to get an almost empty panel.
Brightness and volume sliders are also part of the latest changes, with the ability to switch between horizontal and portrait-style layouts. You can customize the panel however you like instead of using Samsung’s default layout. While over-customizing might lead to a cluttered panel, Samsung provides an easy way to reset to the default layout.
Calling gets a major AI upgrade
One UI 8.5 brings major upgrades to calling, including the ability for the phone to automatically answer unknown or suspected spam calls. The AI assistant asks the caller’s purpose, shows a live transcript, and lets you decide whether to pick up or mark as spam. This is a big improvement over the manual Bixby Text Call, helping users avoid interruptions from robocalls or telemarketers.
You can also enable the auto answer with AI feature to let the device automatically answer calls after a specific delay (5-30 seconds) and provide a live text transcript. This is especially useful when you’re busy or have Do Not Disturb enabled, allowing you to see the caller’s query via a live transcript before even picking up the call.
One UI 8.5 also introduces a direct voicemail feature that lets callers leave a voice message directly on your device rather than a carrier server. You can see the live transcript of the voicemail as it is being recorded in real-time.
Even during a normal call, you can see real-time call options, making it easier to follow in loud environments. Another small but useful upgrade is that the Now Bar shows a dedicated counter for missed calls, making it easier to track without unlocking the device.
A new Creative Studio app for AI creativity
Samsung has added a new Creative Studio app in One UI 8.5, which serves as a central hub for generative AI creativity. The app allows users to create wallpapers, stickers, greeting cards, invitations, and profile cards using simple sketches, existing photos, or text prompts.
The app supports multiple aspect ratios (such as 16:9 and 4:3) and various art styles, including Childhood Sketch, Marker Drawing, and Oil Painting.
Sharing files got a lot easier (even with Apple devices)
Samsung has made significant improvements to file sharing, bridging the gap between its ecosystem and other platforms, especially Apple devices. A major addition is a new “Share with Apple devices” option in the Quick Settings menu, enabling seamless, high-speed transfers to iPhones, iPads, and Macs that use AirDrop.
One UI 8.5 also makes it easier to access the storage of one Galaxy device directly from another through the My Files app. For example, you can browse photos, music, and documents stored on your Galaxy Tab directly on your Galaxy phone, provided both devices are signed into the same Samsung account.
