Samsung has been painstakingly working on rolling out the One UI 6.1 update, with availability for many older devices already. Now, the company is shifting its focus from high-end phones to the mid-range segment; with the rollout beginning for the Galaxy S21 FE in the US.
For the time being, the update is accessible to T-Mobile cellular models; a broader rollout to commence in a matter of time. Samsung officially confirms the rollout and as per the details, the update comes out with the G990USQUAGXDG build number and weighs around 2.3GB in size.
The update brings a big list of new features and changes except the anticipated Galaxy AI features. The list includes new photo enhancement AI recommendations, improved gallery search, new lock screen widgets, new wallpaper editing tools, revamped calendar settings, Google Search suggestions inside the finder app, and more.
Galaxy S21 FE One UI 6.1 Update – Changelog Notes
- Create Epic Images
- Effortlessly enhance your photos: Get special AI recommendations for enhancing your photos and videos. You’ll find options for adding star trails, colorizing, and more. Suggestions appear when you tap the i button in Gallery.
- Copy and paste from one image to another: Add a missing element to your picture. Just clip an object from an image in Gallery, then go to the image where you want to paste it and choose Paste from clipboard in the More options menu.
- More accurate image clipping: Get exactly the area you need to clip without any unwanted parts. When you clip an image in Gallery, you have the option of editing the selected area before you save it so you can get your selection just right.
- Improved Gallery search: The search screen has been redesigned to make it easier to use. Results are now categorized by type, such as people, places, albums, or stories.
- Change playback speed: More videos now support changing the playback speed when you edit a video in Gallery. You can make your video play faster or slower in a specific section that you select or for the entire video.
- Edit videos on multiple devices: You can now continue your edits on your phone, tablet, or PC. Export your Studio projects to a file that can be opened on other Galaxy devices.
- Customize your Galaxy
- New wallpaper editing features: Decorate your wallpaper however you like. When you select an image to use as your wallpaper, you can now apply frames and effects. When your wallpaper includes a person or animal, you can apply depth effects to make the subject stand out from the background.
- More widgets for your Lock screen: Additional widgets are available for your Lock screen so you can quickly check useful information without unlocking your phone. The new widgets include Weather, Samsung Health, Battery, Reminder, Calendar, and Clock.
- Customize alarm alerts: Use an image, video, or AR emoji to create your own custom alert screens for each alarm. You can even change the layout of where the alarm information appears on the screen.
- More stickers to personalize your calendar: You can now add up to 2 stickers for each date on your calendar. Stickers for events are now shown next to the event name in Month view.
- Revamped Calendar settings: Calendar settings have been reorganized to be more intuitive. You can also set background colors and images for full-screen calendar alerts.
- Customize reminder alerts: Create the right background for each of your reminders. You can now set colors and background images for full-screen reminder alerts.
- Do more with reminder categories: You can now choose a representative icon for each reminder category. You can also pin categories you use frequently to the top of the category list.
- Turn modes on or off from the Home screen: Turn modes on and off more quickly than before. The new Mode widget lets you add modes directly to your Home screen.
- Reorder your modes: You can now change the order that modes are listed on the Modes tab in Modes and Routines.
- New routine conditions: You can now start a routine when an alarm of your choice starts ringing or when Smart View connects or disconnects.
- Relumino outline: Turn on Relumino outline in Accessibility settings to highlight the outlines of objects in images and videos to make them easier to distinguish for people with low vision.
- Connect and share
- Share with more devices: Quick Share has merged with Google’s Nearby Share. In addition to Galaxy devices, you can now share with other Android devices even without an internet connection.
- Locate your devices: The new Samsung Find app lets you see where all your Galaxy devices are on a map any time. If you lose a device, additional features are available to help you find the device and protect your data.
- Share your location with others: With Samsung Find, you can share your location with family, friends, or anyone that you trust. Share for a limited time or all the time. You’re always in control of who can see your location.
- Sync Internet tab groups with other devices: Easily pick up where you left off during your last browsing session no matter which device you were using. Tab groups that you create on one device will appear in Samsung Internet on other Galaxy devices signed in to your Samsung account.
- Protect your data
- Enhanced data protection in Samsung Cloud: Rest assured that no one can access your data but you, even if there’s a data breach. You can turn on end-to-end encryption for data that’s synced with Samsung Cloud.
- Fast and secure sign-ins with passkeys: Passkeys provide more security for web sign-ins without the need to remember complicated passwords. Use passkeys to sign in to supported websites with biometric authentication in Samsung Internet.
- Manage your health
- Enhanced exercise experience: Compete against your past running results in Samsung Health to try to beat your previous time. You can also crop exercises after you finish to remove any unnecessary time at the beginning or end.
- More options for daily activity targets: You now have more options for setting your daily activity targets in Samsung Health. If a step goal doesn’t work for you, you can change to floors climbed or active hours instead.
- Improved cycle tracking: When you record your physical symptoms and moods, options you’ve used frequently in the past will appear at the top of the screen. You can also now set custom moods if the default options don’t match how you’re feeling.
- Even more improvements
- More information in the Weather widget: The weather widget will let you know when severe thunderstorms, snowfall, or other precipitation is on the forecast in your local area.
- Voice input without leaving the keyboard: The keyboard now remains visible while using voice input so you can easily switch back to typing whenever you need to. Tap the mic button at the bottom of the screen to enter text using your voice at any time while using the keyboard.
- Open all minimized apps at once: A new button lets you reopen all of the minimized apps at once when you have more than one pop-up window minimized.
- Google search suggestions in Finder: When you search using Finder, you’ll also get suggested web searches from Google.
- More ways to protect your battery: Choose from 3 different protection options to help extend your battery’s lifespan. Basic protection keeps your charge between 95% and 100%. Adaptive protection pauses charging while you’re asleep and finishes charging just before you wake up. You can also choose to limit the maximum charge to 80% for maximum protection.
If you own the Galaxy S21 Fan Edition and reside in the US, then you may have already received the update on your device. If not, you can manually check for the update by going to Settings > Software Update > Download and Install.
Remember to back up your important data before installing the update. No, the update will not erase your data, but take a backup just in case. Also, charge your phone to at least 50%.
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