Update 11/08/2023: One UI 6 beta is finally live for Galaxy S23 series users in the US, Korea and Germany. One can download the beta by heading over to the Samsung Members App and tapping on the One UI 6 beta program banner at the top. You will then be enrolled into the beta program.
Update 10/08/2023: Samsung US announced via its newsroom website that the beta program for One UI 6 is live but once again took down the post minutes later. Stay tuned for any updates.
Update: Samsung Germany seems to have taken down the announcement page, indicating that it may have been made live by mistake or some changes need to be made. Keep an eye out on this article as we’ll update it as soon as we get any information. Till then, read a short portion of the article the via a screenshot below that was taken before the page went down.
Original story below
Samsung has finally begun the testing of One UI 6, its next major OS upgrade based on Android 14. The first set of devices that support the beta includes the Galaxy S23 series. The update seems to be bringing a redesigned quick settings panel and a bunch of other features.
One UI 6 Beta: Availability
As of now, the beta has gone live in the US, Korea, and Germany, as confirmed by Samsung. However, as of now, it seems like the ability to sign up for the beta has been disabled. Furthermore, only Samsung Germany has made the announcement, and the beta is available only for the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra.
India has also been one of the regions where the beta generally goes live, but as of writing this article, we do not see any banner in the Samsung Members app through which one can sign up. For those uninitiated, interested users, they have to sign up for the beta via the Samsung Members app.
The fact that an announcement is live means that the beta is ready for the public to test, and it should expand to more regions and hopefully more models soon.
One UI 6 Beta: What’s new?
As per Google’s translation of Samsung Germany’s announcement, One UI 6.0 “comes in a decidedly simple look,” where a host of UI elements have been redesigned to showcase a more modern look, including the Quick Panel, which has been a much requested feature. One UI 6.0 also brings new customisation features, including a camera widget that allows the user to choose where certain photos are stored before they are shot.
Apart from this, One UI 6 will apparently also allow the user to set a custom background image throughout the system for certain scenarios, such as “a photo of a quiet forest while the smartphone is in sleep mode”. Samsung hasn’t given any more details but more features should be explored soon as the One UI 6 beta update becomes available for everyone to download.