Your Galaxy phone finally works with a Googlebook. Here's what you get

When Googlebooks hit US stores on October 4, there was an awkward gap. Samsung sells more Android phones than anyone, and Galaxy owners on the new software couldn't connect their phones to Google's new laptops. Google didn't really explain why. On Saturday, October 10, it fixed that, and the phone features are now reaching Galaxy phones over the next few days.

I carry a Galaxy Z Fold8, so this one is personal. Here's what you actually get, what you need, and why I think it matters more than it sounds.

What works now

Google calls these its Better Together features. There are four of them:

• Cast My Apps. Run an app from your phone in a window on the laptop.
• Continue On. Pick up what you were doing on the phone from the laptop's taskbar, in a laptop version, a web page, or a cast of the app.
• Quick Access. Move files between phone and laptop from the Files app, without emailing them to yourself.
• Notification Sync. See and answer phone notifications on the laptop. This one is off by default, which I like. Turn it on only if you want it.

What you need

Your Galaxy phone has to be on One UI 9, Samsung's software built on Android 17. The new Fold8, Flip8 and S26 FE shipped with it. The S26 series, the S25 series, the Fold7 and Flip7, and the S24 series, Fold6 and Flip6 have been getting it in waves since mid-September, starting in South Korea. If your phone is still on One UI 8.5 or older, you wait for Samsung, not Google.

To check, open Settings, then Software update. If One UI 9 is waiting, back up first and install it on Wi-Fi with the phone plugged in.

Why this is a bigger deal than four features

I build apps for Apple devices, and the thing that keeps people on iPhones isn't one feature. It's that the phone and the Mac just work together. Copy on one, paste on the other. Start an email here, finish it there. Android never had a laptop partner that did that out of the box, and launching Googlebooks without the biggest Android brand would have kept that gap open.

Now it's closing. A Galaxy owner with a Googlebook gets something close to what iPhone and Mac owners take for granted. That's good for Android users, and honestly, it's good for iPhone users too. Apple works harder when there's real pressure.

I haven't paired my Fold8 with a Googlebook myself, so I'm not going to tell you how smooth it feels. When I get hands-on time, I'll write it up. The big question for me is Cast My Apps on a foldable: an app that already knows how to use a book-sized screen should look great in a laptop window.

Also this week: the October security patch

Samsung's October patch is out, and it covers 76 vulnerabilities across Samsung's own software and Android. Google's Android bulletin for October lists 25 issues, the most serious being a flaw that could let an app gain extra permissions without you doing anything. Google didn't flag any of them as being used in attacks.

One nice surprise: the Galaxy A54, a three-year-old midrange phone, started getting the October patch in Thailand before most of the lineup. It'll reach other regions in stages. If you own an A-series phone, that's a reminder that cheaper Galaxys do get real security support, so don't skip the update.

Verified October 13, 2026. The Galaxy and Googlebook details come from Google's announcement as covered by Techish, and the patch details from Google's Android bulletin and SammyGuru. The studio's app lineup is at jcmobileappstudio.com/apps.