Almost 3.5 months after kicking off the Android 16-based One UI 8 beta program for the Galaxy S25, Samsung has begun rolling out the stable build to the public. The beta program officially wrapped up earlier today, with an OTA update now pushing beta users directly onto the stable release. Barring the Pixels, the Galaxy S25 is now the first Android flagship of 2025 to receive the stable Android 16 update.
Samsung announced on its Korean community forum that it has ended the One UI 8 beta program and pushed the 555MB stable YI3 firmware to participants. Typically, the company waits a day or two to push the stable release widely. But that’s not the case this time, with Samsung already rolling out the full stable One UI 8 firmware to Galaxy S25 units running One UI 7 (via @tarunvats33). For non-beta users, the YI3 firmware is nearly a 4GB download.
Additionally, it is rolling out the stable 3.4GB Android 16 build for the Galaxy S25 Edge, which did not go through the One UI 8 beta testing phase. For now, the stable firmware for the entire S25 family is live in South Korea. However, it should expand to more countries within the next few days.
Besides the September security patch, One UI 8 will bring an enhanced Now Brief, a revamped Quick Share page, and Auracast support. It also redesigns many first-party Samsung apps, such as the file manager, Reminders, and Weather app.
One UI 8 should expand to more Samsung devices soon
Due to some unforeseen bugs, Samsung’s Android 15-based One UI 7 build for its flagship devices arrived a few months later than usual. This time, Samsung has more than made up for the delay, becoming the first non-Google brand to deliver Android 16 to its 2025 flagship.
Apart from the Galaxy S25, Samsung is running a One UI 8 testing program for several of its previous flagships, including the Galaxy S24, Z Fold 6, Flip 6, and S23 series. The beta program for these devices is still ongoing, but if leaks are accurate, they too should receive the One UI 8 update before the month is over.
