Samsung has stretched the One UI 8.5 beta program long enough to make it the longest One UI beta program in the company’s history. While that can be frustrating, it has allowed the brand to release the One UI 8.5 beta to a larger number of Galaxy devices, thus becoming the company’s biggest beta program to date.
The beta program went live in early December 2025, starting with the Galaxy S25 series, and it didn’t expand to other devices for the next three months. That long gap led to rumors that the beta program might remain exclusive to the Galaxy S25 series. But Samsung had other plans.
In mid-March 2026, the One UI 8.5 beta expanded to Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 for the first time. The beta rollout has since expanded to over a dozen Galaxy devices. What surprised us the most is the inclusion of Galaxy A-series phones, which typically don’t receive minor One UI releases. The list also includes three generations of FE phones, for the first time.
As of writing this post, the One UI 8.5 beta program is available for a total of 21 Galaxy devices. Here’s the complete list:
- Galaxy S25 series, S24 series, S23 series
- Galaxy S25 FE, S24 FE, S23 FE
- Galaxy Z Fold 7, Fold 6, Fold 5
- Galaxy Z Flip 6, Flip 6, Flip 5
- Galaxy Tab S11, Tab S11 Ultra
- Galaxy A55, A36, A35
That’s 21 devices in total, more than the total number of Galaxy devices that participated in previous One UI beta programs. The One UI 8.0 beta had about 18 eligible devices, while the One UI 7 beta had only 12. The One UI 6.1 and One UI 6.1.1 beta programs had fewer than 15 eligible devices each.
While it’s good to see Samsung doing the hard work to bring the One UI 8.5 beta to a larger user base, there’s still room for improvement. Samsung could’ve done a better job of expanding the beta, particularly in the first few months. And for the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung appears to be prolonging the beta program, given that recent beta builds have had no critical bugs. It has already received nine One UI 8.5 betas, which is already the biggest any Galaxy device has received so far. Still, looking at new features and upgrades in One UI 8.5, the wait is worth it.
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