Summary
- Samsung has made the One UI 8 beta program live for the Galaxy S25 series.
- The ZYER firmware is live in Germany, South Korea, the UK, and the US.
- Joining the One UI 8 beta program is easier than before.
Samsung is making amends for its long delay in rolling out Android 15-based One UI 7 by starting with its One UI 8 beta program early. You can take Android 16 for a spin on your Galaxy S25 ahead of its public release later this year.
Over the last few weeks, several signs pointed to Samsung preparing for a One UI 8 public beta program. The program’s banners went live last week in several countries, highlighting the new beta enrollment process. For now, the public Android 16 beta program for the Galaxy S25 series seems to be live in South Korea, the UK, Germany, and unlocked and T-Mobile variants in the United States (via @tarunvats33). It should expand to India and other countries later today or in the coming weeks.
Screenshot: u/cstucker07
For now, the beta firmware is not available for the newest member of the Galaxy S25 family: the Galaxy S25 Edge.
The ZYER firmware weighs over 3GB and introduces several features, including new preset routines, the ability to access camera controls with a swipe up or down, Auracast support, a new Weather app, and more. Split-screen multitasking also gets better, and you can now move one app to the corner of the display to only keep it partially visible while giving more screen real estate to the other app.
Unlike before, the joining process only requires two steps. You join the beta program through the Samsung Members app, and then you can participate in the ongoing test. You can also freely leave the program whenever you wish. More importantly, you only need to join the beta once. Previously, you had to join the beta for every Samsung device you owned. All beta program-related information is now available under a new Beta Program Home.
