Best One UI 9 Features to Try on Your Samsung Galaxy Phone

Samsung's One UI 9 update is now rolling out to Galaxy S26 series devices following an extended period of beta testing.

The update first appeared on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 series earlier in the year, and it is now reaching more Galaxy phones. Built on Android 17, One UI 9 combines Samsung's own interface changes with features introduced at the Android system level.

Some of the additions are immediately noticeable, while others are tucked away in settings and may take a little exploring to find. From smarter video editing and a more flexible Quick Settings panel to improved privacy controls and native PDF support, there is quite a bit to discover.

If your Galaxy phone has just received One UI 9, these are some of the features worth trying first.

Turn Your Videos Into Vertical Clips With My FanCam

One of the more interesting additions in One UI 9 is My FanCam, a Galaxy AI feature designed to make reframing videos much easier.

The problem it solves is simple. You may record a wide video with your subject moving around the frame, only to realize later that you need a vertical version for Instagram Reels, TikTok, or another platform.

Normally, that means manually cropping and repositioning the video throughout the entire clip.

My FanCam can handle much of that work for you. Galaxy AI identifies people in the footage and lets you select the person you want to keep in view. You can then choose your preferred aspect ratio, and the feature automatically follows the selected subject while creating the new crop.

How to use My FanCam

Open the video in Samsung Gallery and select the Galaxy AI option. Choose My FanCam, allow the phone to identify people in the footage, and select the subject you want to track.

Next, choose the output aspect ratio and tap Follow.

The result is a reframed version of the original video that keeps the selected person in view.

It is especially useful for footage where the subject moves across a wide frame, because you can create a vertical version without manually adjusting the crop every few seconds.

Make Quick Settings Fit the Way You Use Your Phone

Samsung has been giving users more control over Quick Settings, and One UI 9 takes that customization further.

You can resize elements such as the brightness and volume controls and change their placement within the panel. Frequently used controls can also be moved closer to where you naturally reach, rather than leaving them in Samsung's default arrangement.

This is a small change, but it can make everyday interactions noticeably faster.

If you frequently switch between Dark mode, sound profiles, connectivity settings, or other controls, customizing the panel means fewer unnecessary taps.

How to customize Quick Settings

Swipe down to open Quick Settings and tap the pencil-shaped Edit button.

From there, you can move or resize supported controls. To add another option, select Add a control at the bottom of the editor.

Once everything is arranged the way you want, tap Done.

The best layout will depend on how you actually use your phone, so it is worth experimenting instead of simply keeping Samsung's default arrangement.

Find Out Which App Is Using Your Location

One UI 9 also makes Android's privacy indicators more useful.

When an app accesses your location, a blue indicator appears. That indicator is more than a visual warning. You can open the Quick Settings panel and tap it to identify the app that recently accessed your location.

The information can also distinguish between an app you are actively using and an application accessing location information in the background.

There is an additional See recent access option that lets you review which apps have accessed your location over the previous few days.

This is a useful privacy feature because location permissions are easy to forget after granting them. Instead of checking individual app settings one by one, you can use the indicator to quickly see which applications have recently requested your location.

Put Samsung Finder Directly on Your Home Screen

Samsung Finder has been around for years, but One UI 9 makes it easier to access alongside Google Search.

Finder can search across your Galaxy phone for things such as apps, contacts, messages, settings, files, and photos. Adding it to the home screen means you can reach that search function without opening the app drawer first.

It is particularly useful if you have accumulated hundreds of apps, files, photographs, or settings and do not remember exactly where something is stored.

How to enable Finder

Press and hold an empty area of your home screen and select Settings.

Choose Show search on Home screen, then enable the Finder option.

The search bar will then provide separate access to Google Search and Samsung Finder. Select Google when you want to search the web, or choose Finder when you want to look for something stored on your Galaxy device.

Try Motion Assist When Using Your Phone in a Moving Vehicle

Motion Assist is not exclusive to One UI 9, but it is a useful feature to know about if you regularly use your phone while traveling.

Some people experience motion sickness when looking at a phone inside a moving car. Motion Assist attempts to reduce that discomfort by displaying small visual cues around the edges of the screen that move according to the vehicle's motion.

The idea is to give your visual system additional information that corresponds with the movement your body is experiencing.

To enable it, open Settings, go to Google services, select All services, and look under Personal & device safety for Motion Assist.

Once enabled, the feature can activate when your phone detects that you are traveling in a moving vehicle.

It will not necessarily work for everyone, but if reading or browsing on your phone during a journey tends to make you feel uncomfortable, it is worth testing.

Open PDFs Directly From My Files

One UI 9 also makes file management more convenient by giving Samsung's My Files app native PDF support.

Previously, opening a PDF could involve selecting another application, such as Google Drive or a third-party PDF reader. With the new built-in viewer, you can select a PDF directly from My Files and open it without relying on another application.

That becomes even more useful when you need to make quick changes to a document. PDF files can be sent to Samsung Notes for annotation, while users who prefer another PDF application can still use the Open with option.

For people who regularly download documents, receipts, forms, manuals, or work files, this is the kind of small improvement that can save time repeatedly.

Moving Files After a Major Galaxy Update

A major software update is usually not the same thing as changing phones, but it can still be a good opportunity to clean up your device and review what you actually need to keep.

If you are upgrading to a new Galaxy phone at the same time, the amount of content involved can become much larger. Photos, videos, documents, contacts, and other personal files all need to move across, and manually handling each category can quickly become tedious.

Smart Transfer can simplify that process by giving you a straightforward way to move personal content between compatible devices. A WhatsApp transfer can be particularly useful when messaging history and related media are part of your migration, while a clone phone files workflow can help bring important files from an older device to a new one. For large photo libraries, a dedicated photo transfer process can also make the transition less cumbersome.

That means you can spend less time sorting through files during a phone upgrade and more time configuring the new device around the features you actually want to use.

Explore the Smaller One UI 9 Improvements

The features above are some of the more noticeable changes, but One UI 9 includes several smaller additions that are easy to miss.

Samsung has made changes to Now Brief and Now Nudge, including options for creating personalized dashboard cards that appear according to a schedule.

Security has also received an important adjustment. After 13 incorrect credential attempts, the device can enter a permanent lockout state that requires a reset before it can be used again.

There are also smaller quality-of-life changes, including Tap-to-Answer for calls and updates to Bixby.

None of these features are likely to completely change how you use your Galaxy phone on their own. Together, however, they show the direction Samsung is taking with One UI: more customization, more contextual information, and tighter integration between everyday phone functions.

Is One UI 9 Worth Exploring?

One UI 9 is not simply about adding a few flashy features.

The more useful improvements are often the ones that remove small points of friction from everyday tasks. My FanCam makes video reframing easier. Customizable Quick Settings lets you build an interface around your habits. The updated privacy indicator gives you more visibility into location access. Finder reduces the effort involved in locating content, while native PDF support makes My Files more capable.

The larger Android 17 foundation adds another layer of changes underneath Samsung's interface.

If your Galaxy phone has received the update, it is worth spending a little time exploring the settings rather than assuming everything important will appear automatically after installation.

Some of One UI 9's best additions are not the features Samsung puts directly in front of you. They are the small tools that become useful once you know where to find them.