If you're rocking a Galaxy S21, S21+, or S21 Ultra, and you want to check out the latest software goodies that Samsung is brewing up, you'll want to get involved with the One UI beta program. Version 4.0 is out to beta testers in the program today, and it has quite a few new changes. Chief among them, at least for owners in the United States, is support for eSIM cards, although this feature isn't working just yet. The feature was available previously in other countries and territories (as well as for the T-Mobile Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra).

We're also seeing more than a dozen changes large and small, and that's just what we were able to spot quickly. Here's a brief rundown.

New notification and brightness slider visual design:

Extra-dim options (à la Android 12 Pixels):

A new widget picker for the homescreen:

New notification permission windows:

Permission usage history:

New device care design:

New interface for disabling notifications from the shade:

New Android 12-style precise location permission:

Back in July, an update to Theme Park teased that icon pack support would be coming in a future version of One UI. That was indeed the case, with the Good Lock module now able to change the adaptive icon shape on your homescreen and apply icon packs from the Play Store system-wide.

As well as custom icons, you'll notice that all of the widgets are now rounded to better match the style of Android 12.

Samsung Health has a new tabbed design, having removed the side menu.

Long-pressing on an app icon when using the One UI home search bar now lets you add the icon to the homescreen without having to find it in your app drawer.

Other changes include tweaks to various apps and settings:

  • Sync Wi-Fi with Samsung cloud
  • New loading animation
  • New colors
  • New settings UI
  • Display examples for dark mode updated
  • New brightness icon
  • New motion smoothing animation, new settings UI
  • Galaxy system app update (outside Galaxy Store)
  • New privacy dashboard
  • Clipboard toast notifications
  • Private compute core
  • Labs added with multi-window for all
  • Driving monitor digital well-being
  • Device car new animations design and haptics
  • New Home Screen zoom out animation
  • New camera UI
    • Scene optimizer can't be disabled from the viewfinder anymore
  • New calendar UI
  • Light balance setting editing
  • Share sheet customization that was previously in Good Lock is now built-in
  • Mic and Camera permission quicksettings
  • Voice recorder lockscreen widget
  • Improved accessibility options
    • Change screen size and contrast
    • The screen can flash in different colors based on what app is sending a notification
  • Protect your battery will stop your phone from charging above 85%
  • New AR Emoji
  • Combine two emoji to make stickers in Samsung keyboard
  • Grammarly integration with Samsung keyboard
  • New triggers in Bixby Routines, along with custom icons picked from your gallery
The One UI 4 beta is available for Galaxy S21 devices, but oddly the new Z Flip3 and Z Fold3 aren't invited. It's also geographically limited: users in the US, UK, Germany, Poland, South Korea, India, and China, get access, but everyone else will have to wait. (It may not be rolling out in all countries immediately; we can only confirm it in the US so far.) To enroll, head over to the Samsung Developers site.

UPDATE: 2021/09/16 7:08am PDT BY ZACHARY KEW-DENNISS

New features We've found plenty of new features in the One UI 4 beta since we posted this a few days ago, including the ability to use icon packs from the Play Store (finally!). The article has been updated with the details on everything we've found so far.
Thanks: Dan, Moshe