Samsung quietly brought Relumino Mode from its smart TVs to its Galaxy phones

Summary

• Samsung brings Relumino, an accessibility feature, from TVs to Galaxy smartphones.
• Relumino Mode enhances contrast, color, and sharpness for users with low vision.
• Availability of Relumino Mode on Samsung Galaxy phones is limited, starting with the S23 and S24 series.

Android 15 Beta 2 brought with it several new features, including an accessibility option that adds an easier way to reach color contrast settings for Google’s dynamic Material You themes, making content on the display stand out. Apple, on the other hand, also announced new accessibility features that should land later this year, including Eye Tracking to control iPhones and iPads, Music Haptics, Vocal Shortcuts, and Vehicle Motion Cues to reduce motion sickness when using an iPhone or iPad in a moving vehicle, and more.

With a slew of accessibility updates going live, and Global Accessibility Awareness Day landing on May 18, Samsung wasn’t just going to sit idly by. The Suwon, South Korea-based tech giant today announced that it is bringing Relumino, an accessibility feature for Samsung TVs that it first showed off at CES 2023, to some of its best smartphones.

Relumino Mode essentially works by enhancing specific parts of the content on your TV’s display, like contrast, color, and sharpness, in an attempt to help users with low vision easily discern content on the TV screen. This is similar to the color contrast setting that is easier to access now with Android 15 Beta 2.

What’s new here is that Relumino Mode is now available on a few Samsung Galaxy smartphones. “Relumino Mode is the product of years of research and development to advance Samsung’s goal of providing “Screens for All” and improving the viewing experience for those with limited vision,” wrote Samsung in a new blog post that highlights a range of accessibility features that it offers.

Availability is sparse for now

We’re uncertain if this feature requires specific display hardware, or if it is purely a software-side update. According to Samsung’s blog post, users of the Galaxy S24 series “and beyond” should be able to access Relumino Mode now. However, in our own testing, we found the feature to be available on a Galaxy S23+ running One UI 6.1, but not on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 or the Galaxy Z Fold 4 running the same interface.

If you’re running a Galaxy phone with One UI 6.1, you can check if the new mode is available to you by heading to Settings → Accessibility → Vision Enhancements → Relumino outline. Let us know if you can see the accessibility feature on a Galaxy device older than the S23 or S24 series.