Samsung is making its powerful Lockdown mode a bit more flexible

With One UI 9 beta 2, Samsung integrated Lockdown mode directly into the power menu, allowing users to instantly lock their phone and disable biometric authentication upon triggering it. It’s a handy feature that prevents forced or unauthorized biometric access, and with the latest One UI 9 beta 4, Samsung is giving users a bit more control over Lockdown behaviour when accessing the power menu via different methods.

One UI 9 beta 4 for the Galaxy S26 contains the following new strings:

As the string suggests, users will be able to toggle lockdown behavior, but only for the power button shortcut present in the Quick Settings panel.

In One UI 9 beta 2 and beta 3, tapping the power button shortcut in the Quick Settings panel works the same way as a long-press of the side button (when you have it set to trigger the power menu). The shortcut triggers the power menu, which automatically invokes the Lockdown mode, instantly locking the phone and disabling biometric unlock.

With One UI 9 beta 4, the behavior of the Quick Settings panel power button shortcut has changed. By default, it loses the Auto-Lockdown mode; i.e., exiting the power menu returns you to your last-used app and doesn’t lock your phone.

If you’d like to bring back the Auto-Lockdown mode, you need to navigate to Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Secure lock settings, then toggle the “Secure lock with Power button” option to on. This brings back the Auto-Lockdown mode, and exiting the invoked power menu brings you to the lock screen instead of your last-used app.

Note that the setting does not change the behavior of the side/power button. Long-pressing on it to trigger the power menu still automatically invokes Lockdown mode. Still, it’s good to see Samsung give users an option in case they want to access the power menu without triggering Lockdown mode. Hopefully, the feature makes its way into the stable release of One UI 9.