Samsung Expands One UI 9 Home Up With 36 Gestures and Dock Customization

Q: Are Samsung's new multi-finger gestures a system-wide upgrade or just a home screen gimmick?

Samsung’s new multi-finger gestures appear to be broader than a home-screen-only trick, but they are not a core system feature built directly into One UI. The strongest evidence is in the Home Up update itself. Samsung added options to assign multi-finger swipes, pinches, and taps to actions such as screenshots, recent apps, app switching, and going home. More importantly, the update reportedly lets users exclude specific apps from gesture recognition and enable gestures in full-screen situations like games. Those controls would make little sense if the feature worked only on the launcher or home screen. That said, this is still delivered through Home Up, a Good Lock module, not as a default system-wide navigation change for every Galaxy phone. In practice, that means it is optional, tied to One UI 9, and may behave more like an overlay feature managed by Samsung’s customization layer than a universal Android-level gesture framework. So the practical answer is that it looks system-wide enough to work across much of the interface and inside apps, not just on the home screen. But it is not a built-in One UI standard for all users; it is an advanced Good Lock customization feature whose reach may still vary by app and context.

Q: Which Galaxy phones will get One UI 9's new features, and which will be left behind?

One UI 9’s new Home Up features are headed to Samsung’s recent flagship, foldable, and selected midrange Galaxy devices, while older models that have reached the end of Samsung’s update commitment will miss out. Confirmed or strongly indicated phones include the Galaxy S26 series, which is already in beta, along with the Galaxy S25, S24, and S23 lineups, including Plus, Ultra, FE, and Edge variants where applicable. Samsung’s newer foldables are also in line: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Z Fold 8, and Z Flip 8 are expected to launch with stable One UI 9, while the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 are in testing. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 are also expected to get the update, and for those two, it is widely described as their final major Android upgrade. Among cheaper phones, Samsung is testing or is expected to support models such as the Galaxy A57, A56, A55, A37, A36, A35, A34, and some lower-tier A-series devices depending on market and update policy. The Galaxy M34 has also appeared in testing. What gets left behind is less explicitly named, but the cutoff is clear: phones older than the eligible S23-era flagships and older than the Z Fold 5/Flip 5 generation are unlikely to receive One UI 9 if they have exhausted their promised OS updates. In practical terms, many older Galaxy S, Z, A, and M models outside Samsung’s current support window will not get these new Home Up features.

3 articles · Updated · 9to5Google · Jul 8

Early One UI 9 screenshots show Samsung’s Home Up module adding deeper homescreen controls, including customizable dock backgrounds with colors, blur or images.
The update also lets users change how many apps sit in the dock independently of the homescreen grid, extending layout flexibility beyond current Home Up options.
36 multi-finger gestures are coming as well, with separate actions for swipes, pinches and other inputs to launch apps, take screenshots, open search, or adjust volume and brightness.
One UI 9, based on Android 17, is already in beta on the Galaxy S26 series and is expected to debut first on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 before reaching older Galaxy devices.