- Samsung’s Home Up add-on for Good Lock is rolling out new widget, gesture and share-menu controls for One UI 8.5 beta users, tech sites reported.
- The changes include adjustable widget content scaling, an Edge Panel consolidation option, and tools to hide apps from Android’s Direct Share row.
- A separate leak points to a fourth One UI 8.5 beta build for the Galaxy S25 series with Bixby and call-related bug fixes.
Samsung has begun rolling out a refreshed Home Up module inside its Good Lock customization suite for users on the One UI 8.5 beta, adding new controls for widgets, edge panels and sharing, 9to5Google reported. 9To5Google
The update lands as Samsung continues testing One UI 8.5 on its Galaxy S25 lineup, with feature tweaks showing up through the Galaxy Store rather than as big system overhauls. In the premium phone market, vendors increasingly fight over software feel — the small, daily frictions.
Good Lock is Samsung’s optional bundle of add-ons that exposes deeper customization than the standard settings menu. Home Up sits at the center of that pitch because it touches the home screen, where muscle memory lives.
Android Central said the latest Home Up build adds widget content scaling — starting at 80% — and controls to adjust blur on widget backgrounds or app icon backdrops. It also flagged fixes for a long-running “misalignment” problem in DIY Home, a Home Up mode that lets users place icons and widgets more freely, plus a backup-and-restore fix for widgets when switching phones. Androidcentral
PhoneArena wrote that Home Up also adds a way to merge Edge Panel sections — apps, tasks and people — into a single panel, and lets users disable a bottom-swipe gesture that can trigger accidental app switching. It said the update includes controls to hide specific apps from Direct Share, the row of suggested apps and contacts that appears in Android’s share sheet, and noted a report that Galaxy Z Fold 7 users can adjust how many favorites appear on the cover screen. Phonearena
Direct Share has been a regular complaint for Android users because it can become crowded and unpredictable, depending on installed apps and recent activity. Home Up’s new Share Manager-style controls aim to prune that list, while the gesture toggle targets the kind of accidental swipe that costs a few seconds, then happens again.
Separately, SamMobile reported that a leaked changelog for One UI 8.5 beta 4 for the Galaxy S25 series — One UI 8.5 is based on Android 16 QPR2, a quarterly platform release — lists five items, including an “Applied Bixby update version” entry. The leak, attributed by the publication to tipster Tarun Vats on X, also cites fixes for Phone app search history, Bluetooth headset call switching under certain conditions, pasting phone numbers into the keypad after tapping a call link, and an issue where AI Select does not automatically close after choosing “Copy.” Sammobile
Samsung, meanwhile, is using One UI 8.5 to push a broader Bixby rewrite. “We redesigned Bixby to enable more natural interactions and intuitive device control,” said Won-Joon Choi, chief operating officer of Samsung’s Mobile eXperience business, as the company announced a beta for a more conversational Bixby that also taps Perplexity for real-time web search results. Samsung
Home Up has been a showcase module for Samsung’s approach to customization. An earlier update introduced DIY Home features that removed strict grid rules and allowed users to rotate apps, folders and widgets; the current patch cycle appears aimed at smoothing out the rough edges while adding practical controls.
The competitive context is straightforward: Apple has added more home-screen widgets and lock-screen personalization in recent iPhone software, but Samsung still offers a deeper layer of optional tweaks through Good Lock. On Android, rival brands sell their own skins, yet Good Lock’s modular approach gives Samsung a separate track to ship changes without waiting for a full OS update.
There are clear caveats. These features are tied to a beta track and can change before a stable release, and at least one report warned users not on One UI 8.5 beta to avoid installing the Home Up build because it could trigger reset problems. The beta 4 changelog is also based on a leak, and availability for Good Lock modules can vary by model and market.
For now, the Home Up changes are being delivered through the Galaxy Store to One UI 8.5 beta users, with another beta build expected to focus on fixes as Samsung tightens the software before wider rollout.
