When a new phone comes out, it’s almost expected that initially you’ll encounter a few software bugs that snuck past quality testing. Thankfully, the recently announced Galaxy S23 Ultra has, in my case, been the smoothest new-phone experience I’ve ever had. Still, it hasn’t been a 100% perfect time for everyone, though, with some users facing connectivity issues with the built-in S Pen that leaves many of its features unusable. Thankfully, a fix is now available, and it only requires an app update.
The S23 Ultra uses Bluetooth to receive commands from the S Pen. This lets you control the camera, media, and more, by waving it around and using Air Actions gesture input. To conserve battery, this connection is terminated when the S Pen is stored within the phone. It’s supposed to come back on when you take the stylus back out, but the bug in question seems to reduce the odds of that actually happening to about fifty-fifty.
While you can still use the S Pen for normal stylus duties without the Bluetooth connection, as most people do, it was frustrating to even get a pop-up alerting you to the issue when you just wanted to crack on and write a note.
One workaround was to enable the “Keep S Pen connected” option in settings, which keeps the Bluetooth connection going even when the S Pen is charging inside the phone. While the extra battery draw might not be the end of the world, it’s still something you shouldn’t have to do, and it means the S Pen icon is permanently shown in the status bar — which can be annoying.
This week, a proper fix started to roll out to S23 Ultra users through an update of the Air Command app on the Galaxy Store. Checking if the update is available is easy:
- Open the Galaxy Store.
- Tap the menu button in the bottom right corner.
- Tap the updates button at the top of the screen.
If you don’t see the update available, it’s either already been installed or it hasn’t reached your region yet. It’s easy enough to check if you have it by removing and reinserting the S Pen a few times. If you don’t see any disconnections, you’re good to go.
If the update isn’t showing in the Galaxy Store and your S Pen is still disconnecting, then you can sideload the app using APK Mirror. If you’re unfamiliar with that process, we have a guide on app sideloading from APK Mirror here. Once you’re ready, you can grab the updated APK from here.
I’m pleased to say that this app update has worked like a charm, and now my S Pen is connected before I’ve even finished removing it from its silo — just as it should be. This may not have been the worst bug in the world, but it was still super annoying, and I’m glad to see it squashed.
