One UI 5 beta leaks ahead of launch: Here's what's new

Samsung is expected to release the official One UI 5 beta sometime this month. Ahead of its launch, Max Weinbach over at 9to5Google has managed to get his hands on the software.

The tipster says he acquired the One UI 5 beta build from a source. Since this isn’t a build that Samsung has released to the public, it might not have all the new features of the software.

That said, screenshots provided by Weinbach indicate that there’s not a lot of new stuff in One UI 5. We see some minor changes to the UI, including new notification icons and changes to the notifications shade.

Samsung has also revamped the security and privacy hub to place all your accounts, passwords, security, and other privacy features on one screen. There’s an option for a security scan that’ll look for anything abusing app permissions. It will also recommend security settings that you might want to enable.

Looks like Samsung will now use Android’s default permission dialogs. Maybe the OEM doesn’t want to change low-priority stuff so the update can go out faster, or perhaps it just hasn’t gotten around to the task yet.

Elsewhere, Samsung has turned a Bixby function into a One UI 5 feature. It has added OCR (Optical Character Recognition) — the ability to copy text from photos — to the Gallery app and the keyboard. Additionally, One UI 5 will also bring some new gestures for multitasking.

Some smaller changes to the software include a new collaboration feature in Samsung Notes, a currently active app display in quick settings, a device image on the About Phone page, and a UWB toggle in the settings.