Samsung One UI 9: My FanCam and scanner for social creators

Samsung's Android 17 update adds on-device subject tracking, a smarter document scanner and Quick Panel controls. Engadget tested them on Galaxy S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra; here's what social creators should enable.

What happened

Samsung's One UI 9 update, built on Android 17, began rolling out to recent Galaxy flagships after debuting with August foldables. Engadget installed it on a Galaxy S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra and tested the most notable new software additions to separate useful tools from hype. The guide highlights five features, but not all lived up to expectations.

Among the standout features is My FanCam, which turns a wide shot into a tight tracking shot of a single person. It works on videos already recorded, with no specialized shooting mode required: open a clip in Samsung Gallery and tap the Galaxy AI sparkle button. The processing happens on-device; Engadget confirmed it worked in airplane mode, though a Samsung account login is required. One UI 9 also brings Quick Panel changes, including sliders that can now stand alone without ringer mute or dark mode buttons attached, tile borders removed, and a music player waveform that matches the current album art.

The document scanner in the native camera app received a major upgrade. It now automatically compensates for curved book pages and folded corners, includes a finger eraser that removes thumbs from photos of documents, can correct moire and glare, and adds a home screen shortcut to launch scanning directly. Not every new tool earned a recommendation: Now Nudge still showed nothing useful in Engadget's testing, and the Now Brief on the lock screen's Now Bar has never lived up to its promise of showing real-time updates that matter most.

Key facts

• One UI 9 is Samsung's first interface built on Android 17 and is rolling out widely as of this writing to recent flagships.
• Engadget tested My FanCam on a Galaxy S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra; it worked in airplane mode and required Samsung account login.
• Outside reporting shows Galaxy phones in the S24 series are the oldest models to have My FanCam in the beta version of One UI 9.
• Quick Panel sliders can now drop the ringer mute shortcut and dark mode toggle; tile borders are removed and the music player waveform matches album art.
• The document scanner automatically compensates for curved surfaces and folded corners, has a finger eraser, and adds a home screen shortcut.

Our analysis

For social media managers and creators, My FanCam is the most directly useful addition. The source specifically calls out dance videos for social media: instead of staying in a vertical frame while filming, creators can shoot widescreen and crop to vertical afterward. That likely matters for TikTok, Reels and Shorts where vertical delivery is standard but widescreen capture gives more room to move and later highlight one subject. The fact that processing is on-device suggests privacy-sensitive client content does not need to leave the phone, which is a practical advantage over cloud-based alternatives.

The document scanner upgrade is less flashy but likely saves real time for operators who handle physical documents, books or printed brand materials. Automatic correction of curved pages and dog-ears removes a common frustration; the thumb-removing finger eraser and home screen shortcut lower the friction of digitizing on the fly. Quick Panel customization is a smaller workflow improvement, but removing attached shortcuts on sliders means fewer mis-taps when adjusting brightness or volume during a shoot.

The negative notes on Now Nudge and Now Brief are equally useful: they suggest that even with a large amount of personal data, contextual AI feeds are not yet reliable enough for day-to-day operator workflows. Teams should treat those as optional experiments rather than core tools.

What it means for operators

• Shoot dance, concert or event footage in widescreen, then use My FanCam in Samsung Gallery to crop around one person for vertical social clips; no specialized recording mode is needed.
• Add the document scanner home screen shortcut and use it to digitize book pages, printed briefs or folded documents; let the automatic correction handle curved surfaces and dog-ears instead of manual edits.
• Customize Quick Panel sliders by removing ringer mute and dark mode toggles to reduce accidental taps while capturing or editing content on a Galaxy phone.
• Do not build a workflow around Now Nudge or Now Brief until they show consistent value; Engadget found them lackluster, so rely on the tools that worked in real testing.