New One UI 8.5 firmware makes even more visual changes

Development of One UI 8.5 for Galaxy devices has recently accelerated, leading to an early Galaxy S25 Ultra firmware leak that revealed many upcoming interface tweaks. Now, a newer build has surfaced, showcasing additional refinements and improvements Samsung has made in the meantime.

Since One UI 8.5 is still in early development, the first leaked firmware had its share of unfinished icons and visual quirks. Samsung has cleaned up some of those in the new build. For instance, the quick panel’s widget list buttons, which were previously an eyesore, now look as they should.

Here are some of the other changes that are visible in the new One UI 8.5 build (screenshots showing the old and new versions can be seen below):

The Digital Wellbeing app has received a minor makeover, now featuring larger buttons.

When editing the lockscreen, tapping the app shortcut in the corner now brings up the full list of available apps in a pop-up window.

Samsung has switched to an icon-only bottom bar for the Phone app in One UI 8.5, and in the latest build, the bar now stretches across the entire width of the screen, even though the actual buttons still occupy only a small portion of that space.

The Weather app follows the Settings app’s lead by moving the search bar to the bottom when you hit the search icon, and Samsung has also boxed the location name at the top of the main screen to make it stand out more clearly.

The Galaxy AI photo editing menu in the Gallery has been stylized, and the bottom navigation bar now shows all tab names without the need to scroll to the left.

In apps like Weather, Settings, and Gallery, Samsung has added a subtle gradient effect at the top and bottom of the screen. It shows a faint preview of the next item you’ll see as you scroll up or down.

Samsung has also redesigned the screen recorder menu. The buttons are larger, and each option now comes with an icon that visually explains its function.

Digital Wellbeing

Quick panel buttons

Weather app

Screen recorder

Settings app

Photo editor

Phone app

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there could be many other changes we haven’t discovered yet. We’ll keep exploring the leaked One UI 8.5 firmware for more interesting details, so check back later for updates.

For a deeper look into One UI 8.5, hit the play button below or read our hands-on experience here.

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

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First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

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