Samsung's new Bixby for One UI 8.5 is official and coming to beta soon

Even though Samsung is heavily promoting Google Gemini on its latest Galaxy phones, that doesn’t mean the company has given up on its own virtual assistant. In fact, Samsung has bigger plans for Bixby and announced today a new version coming with One UI 8.5.

Samsung will test the new Bixby through the One UI 8.5 beta program, which is currently underway for the Galaxy S25 series in select markets. The goal is to create a Bixby experience that feels more natural and conversational.

This updated version can better understand context and carry out simple tasks on the user’s behalf.

For example, asking Bixby to keep the screen on while you’re still looking at it no longer triggers a list of instructions. Instead, Bixby directly changes the “Screen on While Viewing” setting inside the Settings app.

Another example Samsung shared was asking why the phone’s screen stays on while the device is in a pocket. Bixby can use that context to surface relevant settings, such as Accidental Touch Protection.

Samsung also confirmed something that has been suspected for a while — Bixby is being integrated with Perplexity.

This allows the new Bixby to access live, up-to-date information through real-time web searches and display results directly within the Bixby UI.

According to Samsung, this integration creates a more seamless experience by keeping users inside Bixby instead of redirecting them to a browser or separate app.

The new Bixby beta will roll out through the One UI 8.5 beta program, possibly as the fourth beta build for the Galaxy S25 series, based on an earlier leaked changelog.

Following testing, the updated Bixby will be released publicly with the first stable One UI 8.5 build, which is expected to debut alongside the Galaxy S26 series in a few weeks. Samsung says a broader rollout will follow.

Author's note: This feels like the right move from Samsung, considering that Apple is also working on a new Gemini-powered Siri version for a 2026 launch.