Samsung’s next software update, One UI 9, is starting to look less like a vague promise and more like an actual feature list. A leaked One UI 9 build points to a new ”Tap to Share” gesture for quickly moving files between phones, plus home screen widgets for Bixby, Samsung’s long-struggling assistant that clearly refuses to stay buried.
The timing matters. Samsung has already shifted its test builds to Android 17, and the company is apparently using the Galaxy S26 as the testbed for these early features. That suggests One UI 9 is not just a polish pass; it’s also Samsung’s next attempt to make its own software feel more connected than whatever Google ships by default.
How Tap to Share works
The new sharing flow is simple enough to explain without a marketing drone: open Gallery, Quick Share, or the share panel, tap the backs of two supported, unlocked phones together, and send whatever you selected. If you start from the home screen instead, the same gesture swaps to contact sharing, which is a neat shortcut for trading phone numbers and email addresses without fumbling through menus.
- Works with Gallery, Quick Share, and the share panel
- Can share selected images, videos, and other files
- From the home screen, it shares your contact profile instead
- Both phones must be unlocked
- The backs of both phones need to touch, though Samsung says the exact contact point varies by model
- The receiving phone still has to approve the transfer
Google is also working on a similar idea, which is the interesting part. If that effort lands the way it should, Samsung’s feature could become part of a broader cross-phone standard instead of another neat trick that only works well inside one brand’s ecosystem. Quick Share already has a version of this behavior tucked away, but hidden features are only useful if people actually know they exist.
Bixby gets a spot on the home screen
The other leak is more eyebrow-raising: new Bixby widgets for the home screen. These would give users easy taps for keyboard and voice interactions with Samsung’s assistant, which is either a fresh push or a stubborn refusal to admit defeat, depending on your view of Bixby’s long history.
That said, Samsung has been trying to breathe some life back into Bixby with help from Perplexity earlier this year, so this is not coming out of nowhere. The bigger question is whether widgets make Bixby more useful or just more visible. Gemini has the momentum; Bixby has a home screen tile and a long memory.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 should get One UI 9 first
Samsung is expected to roll out One UI 9 later this year, with the first release likely landing on the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8. That fits the usual Samsung pattern: debut the shiny software with the premium foldables, then drip it down to the rest of the lineup once the headlines have had their turn.
What happens next is the real test. If Tap to Share is fast, obvious, and actually reliable, Samsung could have a genuinely handy feature on its hands; if not, it joins the long list of clever phone gestures nobody remembers to use twice.