Samsung, with some of its latest updates, has tended to remove some core tools from Android’s recovery menu, and it’s not clear why.
Every Android smartphone comes with a recovery menu that includes options to reset the device, wipe cache, apply updates, and more. this is one Very Simplified explanation, but it’s a standard feature, and you may be most familiar with it when manually sideloading Android updates, like beta updates Google releases for the Pixel.
However, in One UI 8.5, Samsung is changing this.
As mentioned earlier GalaxyClub And also noticed by others, Samsung is removing several options from the Android recovery menu with the latest update for Galaxy phones. Specifically, the update is removing:
- apply update from ADB
- apply update from sdcard
- wipe cache partition
- View Recovery Log
- run graphics test
- run local test
The only options left are “Reboot system now,” “Wipe data/factory reset,” and “Power off.”
9to5Google Can confirm that, at least on the current software build (January 2026 security patch), recovery tools are still fully present on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but this may change as we look at GalaxyClub A report looking at this change is related to the February 2026 security update.
This change may also be permanent GalaxyClub It also notes that this update comes with a notice stating that “Due to a security policy change you will no longer be able to downgrade to older software.”
So why is this happening?
Simply put, we don’t know. However, there is speculation that Samsung may tighten security. Just today, a leaker revealed that Samsung is taking legal action to stop the One UI build leak. It would certainly be a big step for Samsung to eliminate sideloading via recovery for everyone in response, but it’s not necessarily out of the question.
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