Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Phones
  3. News

Samsung’s One UI 8.5 made checking free storage harder because apparently math is a feature now

One UI 8.5 just made life a little more difficult for some reason

Add as a preferred source on Google
One UI 8.5 update
Samsung

With its latest major software update, Samsung has made a tiny change to One UI, which has left Galaxy users pretty frustrated. The One UI 8.5 update has removed the available storage indicator from the Device Care menu in One UI 8.5. So now, users can only see the total storage capacity and how much space is currently used, without clearly displays the amount of free space left.

Why this update has annoyed Galaxy users

Previously, One UI showed the exact amount of available space directly in the storage section. This was a simple, intuitive, and quite useful. You get all the info you need in a single glance. Although, users now have to subtract used storage from total storage to figure out how much space remains.

Recommended Videos

While this sounds like a minor annoyance, it becomes more irritating on higher-capacity phones. According to PiunikaWeb, owners of 512GB and 1TB Galaxy devices are among the users calling out the change, since the old interface made it easy to quickly check available storage at a glance. Reddit users have also been sharing side-by-side comparisons of One UI 8.0 and One UI 8.5, showing how the older version displayed the free-space metric more clearly.

Got to do the math now

Unfortunately, this is not a setting that you can toggle, so the workarounds aren’t that great. You can add a storage widget to the home screen to get the same info. But some users are reportedly seeing inaccurate numbers. In one example, an S25 Ultra owner said the widget showed 418GB free, while the System Monitor Edge panel showed 389GB. Refreshing the widget apparently did not fix the mismatch. The more reliable native workaround appears to be the System Monitor Edge panel, but even that still adds extra swipes and menus just to check a basic system stat.

Storage management is basic phone maintenance that is essential for people who shoot a lot of video, install big games, and use a lot of storage in general. So changing small utilities that people are used to just sours the first experience of One UI 8.5. Samsung has not said whether the old storage indicator will return in a future patch. Meaning, you’re stuck with this for at least a while.

Vikhyaat Vivek
Vikhyaat Vivek is a tech journalist and reviewer with seven years of experience covering consumer hardware, with a focus on…
T-Mobile’s new plans let you pick your own perks instead of a fixed bundle
T-Mobile launches T-Mix plans with customizable perks and three pricing tiers.
t-mobile-logo-on-phone

Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.

The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.

Read more
Apple is investigating cracked screens on the iPhone Duo and replacing broken units
Apple assures that not all units of the iPhone Duo are affected by the display issue.
iPhone Duo screen in the hand.

Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.

Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.

Read more
Apple quietly hopes to end the gizmo right-to-repair war. The iPhone Duo is the latest specimen.
The right-to-repair movement has entered its fine-print era.
iPhone Duo on MagSafe mount with screen half open

Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.

I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.

Read more