The one reason I'm not looking forward to One UI 8.5

As a fan of One UI navigation gestures, I'm really not looking forward to the One UI 8.5 update for my Galaxy S24+. The update seems fine otherwise, but I can't overlook how Samsung implemented the Back Swipe Preview animation in One UI 8.5.

If you don't know what it is, Back Swipe Preview adds extra animations to the back gesture. In One UI 8.5, you don't just get the back arrow as visual feedback — you also get a preview of the last window or app you visited as you swipe back. Or at least, you should…

In theory, it sounds great, especially if you're a navigation gestures fan like me. In practice, Back Swipe Preview feels terribly undercooked, and I think Samsung rushed it into One UI 8.5. It leaves a lot to be desired.

Worse yet, while Back Swipe Preview was optional in One UI 8.0, you can't turn it off in the public One UI 8.5 update, which started rolling out on May 6.

It should have stayed a Labs feature longer

Back Swipe Preview was originally added to One UI 8.0 as an experimental Labs feature you had to enable manually. And that last part was great, because the feature clearly needed more work, and not every One UI user is a fan of experimental features.

The way I see it, two of the biggest issues marring the Back Swipe Preview experience were:

It wasn't system-wide. The back preview worked in most — but not all — Samsung apps and didn't work with third-party apps. That created a disjointed experience where back animations may or may not render depending on where you used the gesture.

Back Swipe Previews always appeared on the left side of the screen, regardless of whether you swiped back from the left or right edge. Again, it made the whole experience feel disconnected.

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Swipe on right side > preview on left – Source: Mihai Matei / SamMobile

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Swipe on left side > preview on left – Source: Mihai Matei / SamMobile

And herein lies my biggest gripe: those issues listed above still exist in the public One UI 8.5 update (at least on the Galaxy S26 series), and worse yet, the feature can no longer be turned off. It's now part of the default One UI experience rather than a Labs feature, so you're stuck with it whether you like it or not.

To me, that's a big step backwards in terms of navigation gestures, and it's one reason why I'm dreading installing the One UI 8.5 update on my phone, despite liking other One UI 8.5 additions.

I already tried the Back Swipe Preview feature through Labs in One UI 8.0 and couldn't get past those problems, so I already know I won't enjoy it in One UI 8.5.

I'm hoping Samsung fixes these problems soon and turns Back Swipe Preview into something genuinely great, but that could take a while. More realistically, I just wish Samsung would give us the option to turn these extra animations off until the whole preview system feels fully baked.

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Mihai Matei - Senior Editor

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First Samsung device: SGH-A800

Mihai is a blogger and column writer at SamMobile. His first Samsung phone was an A800 which took a lot of beating, and a part of him still misses the novelty of the clamshell design. In his free time, he enjoys watching shows, documentaries, and stand-up comedy; listening to music, taking walks, and occasionally playing old(er) video games.

Opinion Phone One UI One UI 8.5