ATTENTION: Do this before installing One UI 6.1 on your Galaxy device!

It took Samsung a couple of months to bring One UI 6.1 to older devices after the latest version of One UI debuted on the Galaxy S24 series earlier this year. Once the rollout began, Samsung only included flagship phones and tablets launched in 2023 in the first phase.

The second phase finally began a few days ago, as Samsung began rolling out the One UI 6.1 update to the Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy Z Fold 4, and Galaxy Z Flip 4 in South Korea on May 2. But despite all the time Samsung took to make One UI 6.1 work on older devices, things didn’t go as smoothly as expected.

Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra owners in Korea experienced issues accessing their phones after installing the update, forcing Samsung to pause the release. Some units reportedly fail to boot, or if they boot and access the lock screen, they fail to unlock.

Such issues are not common with major software updates, and while users with Galaxy phones and tablets from 2023 who received One UI 6.1 did not experience any issues, it appears that others were not so lucky. This may also be one of the reasons why Samsung did not expand the availability of the update to pre-2023 devices outside of Korea several days after the initial release.

With the above issues in mind, there are a few steps everyone with a Galaxy phone or tablet eligible for One UI 6.1 should take before installing the update.

First step before installing One UI 6.1: Make a data backup

It’s a good idea to back up your data before any major OS update, but even if that’s not something you do, you should make an exception when installing One UI 6.1. There are multiple ways to back up all your data, including making a temporary cloud backup using your Samsung account from your device Device care » Maintenance mode menu.

You can find more information about making temporary cloud backups to your Samsung account at this link. For more backup methods, check out our One UI 6.0 preparation guide here. This guide also contains other recommendations that you may find useful, although the precaution part is the most important.

Disable lock screen/bypass lock screen

It’s almost impossible to find people who don’t lock their phones with a password, PIN, or fingerprint these days. But considering one of the issues after installing One UI 6.1 is the inability to unlock the device, you may want to disable the lock screen before going ahead with the update.

You can change the screen lock type from Settings » Security & Privacy » Screen Lock » Screen Lock Menu on your phone or tablet. to choose no one This screen lock type will disable the lock screen and make your phone go directly to the home screen.

Removing the screen lock will remove any registered fingerprints, pattern, and PIN you’re using, but we think this is a minor inconvenience you should ignore. You can re-register and create these features again once you install One UI 6.1 and boot your phone safely.