The Galaxy S26 series is landing in consumers’ hands, and while we continue to test the devices here at Android Central, we find ourselves impressed with many of its features. Some of them are more well-known, such as the Privacy Display on the Ultra, and more features are gradually arriving, such as screen automation with Gemini. However, one feature I feel went under the radar was the upgraded Audio Eraser, which was already impressive to begin with.
During the Galaxy S26 launch, Samsung announced that Audio Eraser would now support third-party apps, meaning you can use it to adjust the audio while watching a show or scrolling through reels on Instagram. I’ve been testing the feature on the Galaxy S26 Plus, and I have to say, it’s becoming my favorite new feature on Samsung’s latest flagships!
Audio Eraser and the One UI 8.5 update
Samsung’s Audio Eraser may sound familiar to anyone with a newer Pixel smartphone, and it should. The feature launched with the Galaxy S25 series, and like on the Pixel, some Samsung phones can analyze videos and separate the audio into different categories, such as voices, music, noise, and crowd. Once a video is analyzed, you can adjust each audio category for the desired effect, whether that’s to drown out the sounds of a crowd to better hear the main speaker or to boost the background music in a scene so voices aren’t heard as well.
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The results are pretty amazing, and phones like the Galaxy S26 can even utilize this on videos not taken on the phone itself, such as those you save to the device.
However, with One UI 8.5 on the Galaxy S26 series, Samsung takes this a step further with third-party app support. When using apps like YouTube, Netflix, Instagram, and more, you can adjust the audio so that the speaker is heard more clearly, effectively drowning out any background noise or music to better hear what’s going on.
The tools aren’t as granular as those found in the Gallery app, but the basic feature works surprisingly well across third-party apps.
How to use Audio Eraser in the Gallery app
1. Select a video in your Gallery app.
2. Tap the Galaxy AI sparkle icon. Wait for the app to analyze the video.
3. Adjust the audio categories to your liking, or tap the Auto button to let the app make adjustments itself. You can also tap Hear original at the top to compare the original audio with the adjusted audio.
4. Tap Save edits once you’re satisfied.
Note that while you’re on the edit screen, each audio category will be highlighted in yellow on the video scrubber wherever that audio type appears in the video, making it easy to visualize where changes are being made.
How to use Audio Eraser in third-party apps
1. Open an app such as YouTube, Netflix, Instagram, Prime Video, etc., and begin playing a video.
2. Swipe down to open the quick settings menu. Tap Audio eraser at the top.
3. Toggle Audio eraser on and adjust the strength of Audio eraser to reduce background noise in the video.
4. If you’re listening to music and want to boost the main vocals while lowering the volume of the music, adjust the strength to the highest level, then toggle Voice focus on. This feature will be greyed out and unavailable until the strength is turned all the way up.
5. When finished, tap Done.
One of Samsung’s most practical AI features
A lot of Samsung’s Galaxy AI features are fun to use, like generating stickers or editing images, but Audio Eraser has just become one of those features that I don’t think I can live without. I often find that, for one reason or another, I struggle to hear things properly when watching TV shows. For that reason, I often turn on captions so I can fully understand the dialogue, like when watching “The Expanse,” which features a lot of action and moments where characters are speaking over crowds.
In the case of the example above, I find it quite difficult to hear Colm McGuinness’s voice clearly in his fantastic rendition of Ed Sheeran’s “Nancy Mulligan.” When turning on Audio Eraser, his words become much clearer and easier to understand (my final hurdle then being his strong Irish accent).
That said, Audio Eraser isn’t perfect in this regard, especially when Voice Focus is enabled. Yes, it gives voices a nice boost and makes them much easier to hear, but sometimes the voices can get muddied as the AI tries to keep up, and now and again it can have the opposite effect, making voices harder to understand. Thus, this particular feature may be best used sparingly.
Still, I can see how this feature may also be a great accessibility tool, helpful for people who are hard of hearing. Some of the changes can seem subtle, but sometimes they can go a long way toward making the difference between hearing something clearly and not. And even though Voice Focus has its faults, it makes a pretty dramatic difference when watching videos or listening to music, and I hope Samsung expands this to music apps like YouTube Music.
For now, Audio Eraser has become a truly invaluable upgrade for Samsung’s Galaxy AI suite.
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