Samsung has started the official rollout of the latest version of its One UI software for Galaxy smartphones, and chances are you can try it out today. One UI 7 has been released in beta and is available today, December 5, for Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphones in the US, UK, India, Korea, Germany and Poland. To try it out, you’ll need to sign up to join the beta program, but what features will you get if you do?
New design and simplified home screen
Samsung says One UI 7 features a “significant new look” and a “simple, impactful and emotional design” with less on-screen clutter, new One UI widgets and greater customization features to give you more control over its look and function of the software. The home screen and lock screen have also been simplified.
Now Bar
The most intriguing new design feature in One UI 7 is the Now Bar. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to try it out because it’s “supported on future Galaxy S series devices,” meaning it probably won’t appear on the Galaxy S24 or earlier devices, nor will it be inbound. the beta version of the software that you can try today.
The Now Bar is part of a new notification system that reduces the need to unlock your phone to view information or interact with notifications, while also highlighting certain activities such as music playback, the stopwatch, voice recording and the AI Interpreter mode. Samsung claims that the Now Bar will “transform the lock screen experience” and promises to support it with new features in the future. We might not get to see the Now Bar until the release of the Galaxy S25, but it looks a lot like Apple’s Dynamic Island and Live Activities features.
New Galaxy AI features
Andy Boxall / Digital trends
It wouldn’t be a One UI update without new Galaxy AI features, but at the moment Samsung is only announcing a few. Writing Assist mode will work in more apps, while Call Transcript mode now supports 20 languages, up from the 13 supported at launch. When recording conversations, the transcription function is started automatically.
While we haven’t detailed many new Galaxy AI features at this point, we expect many more to be announced, especially when the Galaxy S25 series debuts in 2025. Samsung calls One UI 7 beta a “preview of scalable AI ecosystems of the future. ” and reiterates its mission for Galaxy AI in general, which is to integrate AI into every aspect of the software in a natural and intuitive way.
New camera app
In One UI 7, Samsung promises a redesigned camera app with new buttons and controls, as well as different modes to make it easier to use and find the functions you want faster. It also mentions that you’ll get a “clearer view of the photo you take or video you record,” but it doesn’t go into more detail about what this will look like. The camera’s Pro mode gets a makeover to make manual controls easier to use, and a new zoom speed control is introduced specifically for Pro mode.
Knox Matrix and security
Samsung’s Knox security system gets a major upgrade in One UI 7, with a new dashboard to monitor the security status of your phone and other Samsung smart devices and respond to any threats flagged by the system. This will be done using Knox Matrix and the Trust Chain, a secure private blockchain that supports connected Samsung devices. Elsewhere, Samsung will introduce Passkeys in One UI 7, faster recovery from data backups by using device security methods to unlock them, the option to block access to 2G networks and the ability to automatically reconnect to some Wi-Fi networks to prevent.
A new opt-in security feature called Identity Check enhances current theft prevention features. For example, if the device suspects the PIN has been compromised, biometric authentication will be required to make changes to the phone’s security settings and add a one-hour security delay. Identity checking works based on location, so it should not be done at home.
How to get One UI 7 beta
To access the One UI 7 beta, you’ll need to sign in using the Samsung Members app, which is available on your Galaxy S24 smartphone or can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Samsung says that the final version of One UI 7 will be released with the “upcoming Galaxy S Series devices”, by which we can mean the Galaxy S25 range, during the first three months of 2025.
