Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

Samsung’s Android 12 and One UI 4 rollout begins today with the S21

Michael Allison
By

Samsung today announced the release of One UI 4, its take on Android 12 for its current flagship phone. The update arrives on the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, and Galaxy S21 Ultra. It will bring in headlining Android 12 features like new wallpaper-powered themes and enhanced privacy features.

“We are committed to giving everyone access to the best mobile experiences possible, as soon as possible,” Janghyun Yoon, Executive Vice President and Head of Software Platform Team at Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics said in a press release. “One UI 4 delivers on that promise, equipping Galaxy smartphone users with the latest customization and privacy features. But we won’t stop there. Soon, other smartphone and tablet users will also be able to benefit from this software update, enabling a more seamless experience across our entire ecosystem.”

One UI 4.0 shown off on tablets, foldables, and smartphones.
Samsung

Samsung is one of the first manufacturers to release Android 12, coming just under a month after the operating system launched on Pixels. The new release brings more personalization in the vein of Google’s Material You, but it won’t have the Dynamic Color theming associated with it — at least at first. Instead, Samsung is adding its own take on the feature. You’ll still have themes that take their color palette from your wallpaper, they’ll just be a lot less pastel and won’t affect apps like Google Keep or Google Duo. Samsung is also adding in a feature that’s like Gboard’s emoji kitchen to its own native keyboard, allowing for the same custom emoji creation on the go.

Recommended Videos

Other than enhanced customization, Android 12’s headlining public feature was privacy. You’ll now know if any app is using your camera or microphone with a green indicator in the status bar, and a new dashboard will show you which apps accessed them and how frequently. It brings Android in line with iOS in this regard and strengthens the already pretty secure operating system.

Related

Android 12 and One UI 4 are available from today on Samsung’s S21 phones. The company says owners of previous flagships, foldables, tablets, and A-Series phones should keep an eye out soon. Beta testing of the S20 and Note 20 has just started, so a December release would make sense at the current cadence. Samsung is also rolling out a new Galaxy Watch update today that adds new watch faces and improved health features.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Michael Allison
Michael Allison
Mobile News Writer
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
Samsung’s One UI 5 launches with iOS 16’s coolest feature
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra in Phantom Black with S Pen.

Samsung has finally announced One UI 5, its take on Android 13. The company is focusing on improving the customizability of its operating system, refining its distinct design language, and adding some nice-to-have improvements as well.

Samsung's headlining feature here is lock screen customization. Although not exactly new to the company's phones, Samsung is bringing that functionality over to One UI's stock lock screen just after Apple unveiled something similar on iOS 16. You can tweak the wallpaper, clock style, notification design, and more. It's even been tweaked to look like Apple's implementation. Lock screen customization is a useful feature that you'll find on many Chinese Android phones. It's one that Google should implement in Android as a whole, especially considering its focus on individuality with Material You.

Read more
Samsung just copy-and-pasted iOS 16’s lock screen in its One UI 5 beta
From left, Good Lock, Samsung One UI 5 beta, and iOS 16 lock screens are displayed on smartphones.

It's hard to tell sometimes if iPhone innovations inspire Android or the other way around. Google introduced Material You for Android 13, while Apple programmed iOS 16 with lock screen customization -- giving their respective customers all the personalization power in the world. Now, it seems Samsung made lock screen customization on its phones look similar to that of iOS 16 in its latest One UI 5 beta.

Video creator and TechDroider founder Vaibhav Jain pointed out on Twitter that the lock screen interface for One UI 5 is a spitting image of the lock screen interface for iOS 16, but with some differences. Whereas iOS 16 gives users a selection of eight clock face designs, One UI 5 gives only five. The former also offers both built-in and third-party widgets (like Widgetable), while the latter only offers widget icons for notifications.

Read more
Samsung’s One UI 5 beta is already available for some Galaxy S22 owners
Purple Samsung Galaxy S22 front and back.

Samsung's One UI 5 beta is beginning to roll out for select Galaxy S22 owners via the Samsung Members app. Today, Samsung announced the early rollout would be exclusive to Germany, South Korea, and the U.S. — but it quickly pulled the announcement from its website without a replacement (likely a sign that the post went up earlier than it should have). While Samsung works on getting its timing right, folks who've gotten early access to One UI 5 have taken to Twitter to show off the new features.

As expected, One UI 5 puts customization at the forefront of the update. Now, Galaxy users will have nearly endless options when it comes to how they want their UI to look. Early examples that we've seen on Twitter include things such as expanded color options, widget stacking, and more ways than ever before to customize notification settings. All of this was detailed in the pulled presser that Samsung officially posted earlier today, in addition to details regarding other new features coming with the update.

Read more