Zen UI guide: Everything you need to know about Asus’ Android skin

Asus smartphones are the least popular in the market. However, the company continues to make great gaming phones every year with its ROG phone series. Also, the Zenfone series is highly rated every year. With that in mind, you might be thinking about Zen UI, a software skin that can be found on every phone.

See also: Asus Zenfone 8 Series Buyers Guide

In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Zen UI. Hope this helps those who are thinking of buying an Asus phone. It can also be helpful for those who already own one but want to get more familiar with it. Let’s dive in!

Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 2021. We will add/remove content as Asus reveals more about Zen UI.

Overall, Zen UI is more similar to: Google Pixel UI. It leaves the look and feel of stock Android in most cases, it enhances the user experience by adding new features. The only exception to this is the optional “ROG UI” mode on the ROG Phone. This mod changes the OS to look like a gaming rig.

Zen UI appears on Asus-branded tablets (no longer made) as well as standalone applications such as the Windows-based ZenLink app. But basically the Zen UI is closely related to Asus’ Android phones.

See also: What is Android?

Before this Android skin was available, Asus smartphones used to come with a very tricky one called WaveShare UI. If you have an older Asus phone, you can still watch WaveShare. We cover this in more detail in the article.

Unfortunately, Asus has a poor history of keeping its phones up to date when it comes to software. For example, it wasn’t until the summer of 2021 that Android 10 appeared on 2020 flagships. The company is also quite slow in applying security patches to its phones. But Asus is getting better and better in this regard with time. However, if quick and frequent software updates are important to you, your Asus phone might not be what you want.

The latest version of Zen UI

Some manufacturers sync the Android skin version with the Android version. OnePlus Oxygen OS for example, it now matches Android. — Android 11 Oxygen OS 11, Android 12 Oxygen OS 12, etc. But Asus doesn’t. Currently, the latest version of Zen UI is Zen UI 8. It is based on Android 11.

Asus is currently running. Beta program for Zen UI 9 based on Android 12. As usual, it’s pretty late to the game, as many companies started beta programs a few months ago. It will be late 2021 or early 2022 before all Asus phones see Android 12.

The next section has steps on how to check the version number.

How to check version and update using Zen UI

If you don’t know which version of Zen UI your Asus…