Samsung Galaxy S10 Series Update Adds Galaxy Note 10’s Auto Hotspot Feature, an Improved Gallery, and More

Samsung is rolling out yet another software update for the Galaxy S10 series, which is said to being even more features of the Galaxy Note 10 to these devices. Samsung officially made the announcement on its website, stating that the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10+ and the Galaxy S10 5G will be receiving at update that will add features such as smart multimedia controls, gallery improvements and new Wi-Fi functions like Auto Hotspot, to the S10 series. Our Galaxy S10+ review unit hasn’t picked up the update yet but you can try your luck if you have any one of the new Galaxy S10 devices. Like most updates, this would probably be a staged rollout so it would take time before it reaches everyone.

The last major update for the Galaxy S10 (Review) series rolled out in September, where it added features such as AR Doodle and many more camera-centric features such as Night mode for the selfie camera, Live Focus Video, etc. The latest update brings improvements to the Gallery app, which now lets you find your photos by searching for keywords. For example, you can type ‘cats’ and the app will filter all the photos in your library with cats in it.

The other improvement is the addition of ‘Media’ and ‘Devices’ buttons to quick settings section in the notification pane. Tapping the ‘Devices’ button lets you quickly see all the devices that your phone is connected to, which includes devices connected over Bluetooth and smart home devices too. The ‘Media’ button lets you see which devices are currently playing media files and lets you control playback and volume of the respective media. These features were part of the update which was reportedly rolling out in some European countries last month, and now it seems to be rolling out globally.

The update also brings the Auto Hotspot feature from the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, and it lets your other Samsung devices automatically detect your phone, instead of having to search for a nearby hotspot. This will work only if the other devices are signed in with the same Samsung account or family account. Some of the other features highlighted in this release were already part of the September update for the Galaxy S10 series. These include the ability to use AR Doodle in the camera app, without the S Pen and support for Samsung DeX for PC.