Galaxy S25 One UI 8.5 beta program: A major development just dropped

We told you Samsung would launch the One UI 8.5 beta program for the Galaxy S25 series in November, and we were right: the first One UI 8.5 beta firmware for the Galaxy S25 Ultra has been spotted on Samsung's servers.

Were we completely right, though? Not exactly, but that might not have anything to do with the accuracy of our sources. It appears the rumored delay in the Galaxy S26 series launch has also pushed back the One UI 8.5 beta program. With November nearly over, there’s virtually no chance the beta program will actually begin this month.

Still, this is an important step toward the One UI 8.5 beta program. It suggests Samsung’s original roadmap hasn’t been thrown off too much. For context, the first One UI 7 and One UI 8 beta firmware were spotted roughly 24 and 17 days before their respective public beta launches. If Samsung follows a similar pattern this time, the One UI 8.5 beta could arrive sometime in the third week of December.

At this point, it’s unclear how many regions will get access to the One UI 8.5 beta. Samsung doesn’t have much of a track record to help us predict its rollout pattern for this version. The usual markets that typically participate in major One UI beta programs may or may not make the list this time around.

But if you want to see One UI 8.5 in action, we can oblige: we have several videos of One UI 8.5 running on a Galaxy S25 Ultra that shows off the various changes and improvements. Start with the one below, then visit our YouTube channel for more!