Last updated on 14 May 2026
Samsung has released the first One UI 9 beta to Galaxy S26 phones, and with this new beta, a major accessibility-related shift has been observed. Google TalkBack is now the screen reader installed with One UI 9.
What does the change mean?
Starting with One UI 3, which was based on Android 11, Samsung had its own version of TalkBack. It was still based on Google TalkBack but maintained and updated by Samsung. You can read more about the differences between the two versions here.
With the new One UI version, Samsung has finally decided to drop its own version and use Google’s version instead. This means that from One UI 9 onward, updates are installed through the Play Store when Google releases new versions, instead of being delivered through the Galaxy Store or bundled with One UI updates.
This change also means that the current fragmentation in TalkBack versions, caused by the One UI version installed on the device, will no longer be a problem, as new updates are provided through the Play Store to all supported Android versions.
Guides on how to remove Samsung’s version of TalkBack and replace it with Google’s version proved very popular among Samsung users, who were often frustrated by slow update delivery and the inability to use newer versions on older One UI releases. This change removes the need for that additional step in order to use the same TalkBack features found on other Android devices.
One thing noticed in the beta is that the option to stop speech when the proximity sensor is approached is not present. This is also the case with Samsung’s TalkBack, which has lacked this option, as Samsung devices no longer use a dedicated hardware proximity sensor.
We will update this post if we discover additional details worth mentioning.
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