SEOUL, February 10, 2026, 18:23 (KST)
- Samsung has started pushing a fourth One UI 8.5 beta update to Galaxy S25 phones in several regions.
- The build adds “Direct Voicemail” with live transcription inside the Phone app and carries a February 2026 security patch.
- The update is mostly fixes as Samsung readies a stable One UI 8.5 release expected to ship with the next Galaxy S26 lineup.
Samsung Electronics has begun rolling out the fourth beta of One UI 8.5 for its Galaxy S25 series, adding a new “Direct Voicemail” tool that transcribes messages as they are recorded, tech sites reported on Monday. The update also bundles a February 2026 security patch and a set of bug fixes in the Phone app and system UI. Androidauthority
The beta lands as Samsung tightens its grip on software ahead of its next flagship launch, with One UI 8.5 expected to move from test builds to a stable release tied to the Galaxy S26 line. For Samsung, the software layer — its interface on top of Android — has become a selling point as buyers compare AI tools and call-handling features as much as cameras and screens.
One UI 8.5 is based on Android 16, according to the reports, and Samsung has been using the Galaxy S25 family to test the build in public. The focus this round is not new visuals. It is cleanup, stability, and a new calling feature that tries to keep more of the experience on the device.
The Beta 4 firmware, identified in reports as ending in “ZZAL,” is about 1.5 gigabytes and is rolling out to enrolled Galaxy S25 users in markets including South Korea, India, Germany, Britain and the United States. A changelog circulated with the update lists fixes spanning lock screen behaviour and call-related bugs.
Direct Voicemail is the one feature users will notice. It lets people send incoming calls straight to voicemail automatically after a set period, or push a caller to voicemail manually, with messages stored in Samsung’s Phone app and shown alongside a live text transcript as the caller speaks.
That approach mirrors features Apple added with Live Voicemail in iOS 17 and similar voicemail transcription on Google’s Pixel phones. Android Police, among other outlets, described Samsung’s implementation as bypassing carrier-hosted voicemail by recording and transcribing the message on the handset itself. Androidpolice
The change log for Beta 4 points to a familiar set of repairs: a lock-screen clock that shifted down, issues when tapping search history in the Phone app, and call audio and switching problems when using Bluetooth headsets. It also fixes a bug where AI Select — Samsung’s screen selection tool — did not close after a user chose “Copy,” the reports said. 9To5Google
Samsung has been iterating quickly. Reports said earlier One UI 8.5 beta builds for the Galaxy S25 shipped in December, followed by another in January, with Beta 4 arriving after a longer gap as the company heads into the Galaxy S26 cycle.
But beta software is messy by design. Features can be tweaked or pulled before the stable release, and rollout timing can differ by country even for devices already enrolled in the test program. Transcription quality can also vary by language and noise, a weak spot for any voicemail-to-text system.
Users already signed up for the One UI 8.5 beta can download the update through Settings, then Software update, then Download and install, Android Central reported. For now, the public beta remains confined to the Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra, with no clear sign yet of a broader device expansion. Androidcentral
