A system Samsung hasn't shipped yet, and he named his app after it: One 9.5 Widgets got 2,000 installs in a week, powered by 60k followers he'd built himself

One 9.5 Widgets is an Android home-screen widget app, launched Oct 29. It got just over two thousand installs in a week and climbed from #170 to #68 on the "Personalization" Top Grossing chart across a dozen-plus countries. The numbers are small, but every step is clear. The developer is himself a customization creator who has run an Android content account for years. He named the app after "One UI 9.5", the next Samsung system version that hadn't been pushed yet. Before launch he ran several public beta rounds. On launch day he gave away codes, and a YouTube creator from the same circle covered it. Below is how he did it, which parts of this playbook you can take, and which you can't.

A giveaway post with 8,908 views

On Oct 30 at 3 pm, an X account called Android Tools 4U posted and pinned: "OneUI 9.5 Widgets — Officially Launched", with 700 widgets and a 3D icon capsule that changes color with the app, "now available on Google Play." Below it: "Launch Giveaway: 15 redeem codes. Follow us, like, and comment on OneUI 9.5 Widgets. 48 winners will be drawn in 15 hours."

By Nov 6 the post had 8,908 views, 173 likes, and 94 replies. The reply section is row after row of the same line, "OneUI 9.5 Widgets." In between sits an Arabic comment: "The best app I've bought in a long time ❤️❤️❤️" (X, 10-30).

A week later, the top three reviews on the store page told a different story:

• "Cash grab. 95% of the widgets need a subscription. Are you serious." (Google Play, 11-05)
• "Everything costs money to use... uninstalled." (Google Play, 11-05)
• "Could have been a really good app if the widgets actually worked. The music widget doesn't update when the song changes. Regret buying Pro; it stopped working about a day later." (Google Play, 11-03)

Put together, that's the full picture of this app: a crowd of customizers who already followed him lifted it up, and some people really paid. Newcomers who saw most of the content locked behind the paywall often turned around and left.

What it is

An Android home screen widget pack. The store page says "700 live widgets" (after the 11-02 update it says 800): clock, weather, calendar, music, battery, steps, in six styles including glass, frosted and liquid. The weather widget's 3D sky changes with real weather. There's also "Widget Studio", where you drag shapes around and build your own widget. The short description is a single line: "700 live home screen widgets in glass, liquid & animated styles. No KWGT." No need to install KWGT, a tool where you build everything yourself. Pick a widget and drop it on your home screen.

Monetization is free plus paywall. Some widgets are free, and "One Pro" unlocks all widgets, materials, fonts, and Studio, via yearly subscription or one-time purchase. In-app pricing is $3.59–5.49 per item (Google Play, 11-06).

Who is behind it

The developer on the store is Mariam Omar, who looks like an ordinary individual indie developer. But the last line of the store description reads "Follow Android Tools 4U on X: @AndroidTools3." Following that trail: on Threads, @android_tools4u is credited to Fathy Mahmoud, bio "Android & iOS Developer | UI/UX Designer," 64.8k followers. The "My Apps" link on his profile leads straight to Mariam Omar's developer page (Threads, 11-06). He has 22.7k posts on X, and TikTok @androidtools4you has 3,113 followers. The "at" in the package name com.at.oneui9 stands for Android Tools.

So this isn't a small app someone helped promote. It's a person who spent years making "Android tips and Samsung customization" content, and turned his own account into a distribution channel. It's not his first product either. Under the same developer page there's PlushScreens, with 10k+ installs. His previous product, Duo Status Bar, sat under another developer account called Pixi Studio, and it too was "submitted to Google Play review only after four rounds of beta" (Threads). I didn't check whether Mariam Omar is a family member's registration or a partner. That doesn't change the conclusion.

Why now: a system version number that doesn't exist yet

One UI 9.5 is Samsung's next system release, expected to ship with the Galaxy S27 in early 2027. In August, its "My Custom Widget" feature leaked, covered by Android Authority (8-20), SamMobile, and SammyGuru. Most Galaxy users are still on One UI 9, so all they can do after reading the coverage is wait.

Right now, an app called "OneUI 9.5 Widgets" and a YouTube video titled "Samsung's One UI 9.5 Widgets On Any Galaxy Phones" (get One UI 9.5 widgets on any Galaxy phone) are pulling in this crowd. The app launched as "OneUI 9.5 Widgets" and has since been renamed "One 9.5 Widgets", likely to avoid Samsung's trademark while keeping the "9.5 widgets" search term (inferred)."

Where the two thousand installs came from

He built up anticipation on his own account first. On Oct 26, a Threads preview read "OneUI 9.5 Widgets — Beta 3 big upgrade, adds Widget Studio", with 739 likes. By mid-October, X was already posting previews of glass-style widgets. His YouTube channel had teased it two weeks before launch. By Oct 30, the Threads post with the store link had only 9 likes. The real buzz was spent in the teaser phase; on launch day he only had to hand the link to people already waiting.

Giveaway codes on launch day. That's the X post at the top. 15 redeem codes bought a row of "follow + like + comment," and the post got pushed to more people.

A YouTube creator from the same circle covered it. "Android Expert," a channel with 72.2k subscribers, posted "Samsung's One UI 9.5 Widgets On Any Galaxy Phones." As of Nov 6 it had 23,037 views, and the first line of the description was the Play link. On Oct 31, the developer publicly thanked the video on TikTok. I didn't verify whether it was paid.

His own TikTok. On Oct 31, one "OneUI 9.5 Widgets • Link in bio" post got 46,241 views and 1,011 likes; 10-30 another post 6,160; 11-02 released the new version "Fluid Live" 3,184 (TikTok, 11-06).

Install counts went like this (cumulative installs shown publicly on Google Play):

The jumps on 11-03 and 11-04 line up with the Android Expert video (around 10-31) and the 11-02 update 1.3.0, but I can't say which one drove it. The 11-06 0 may just be Google's data lag, or the first wave may already have run its course. I saw no sign of paid ads.

How much it actually earned

Not much. It only reached the Personalization Top Grossing chart, and its rank was nearly identical across 15–16 stores (US and Vietnam 68, Hong Kong 69, the rest 71–72), which looks more like the same aggregated chart. The bar for this chart is low: on the same day, Kyng Keyboard at #65 in the US had only 1,248 installs, and Aura: Edge Notifications at #79 had 1,534 (Google Play, 11-06). A few dozen people paying a few dollars each a day is enough to land here.

So its revenue is probably tens of dollars a day (estimate, unverified). The more notable point is that people already want Pro: 1.1.0 was barely out when the cracking site Platinmods posted a "Pro Unlocked" version.

Who it's competing with

Also riding both "9.5" and "glass style": AppixoStudio's "OneUI 9.5: Dark Icon Pack" (2026-09,433 installs) and Zeffi Setups' "Glass Aurora Widgets" (10-26).

Short version: the glass widget street isn't empty. Glass Widgets, listed the same week, grew 65k in one week. What One 9.5 Widgets has over them is a newer version number and a crowd that was already waiting for it.

What it's doing next

In Nov 6, Fathy Mahmoud posted three new teasers on Threads in a row: "AT Studio. Our most ambitious project yet". Pick a theme, and it covers the Samsung keyboard, the quick settings panel, and the whole Galaxy, all re-skinned in one tap, "all of this still before the Beta 1". Same playbook again: warm up the next product on his own accounts first.

If it were you

One-line verdict: You can learn a very cheap launch playbook here: name it "next iOS version + category," tease it before launch, and give away codes to blogs in the same niche. But the app itself isn't worth chasing: it runs on a 60k-follower audience the developer spent years building, which you won't have. Revenue sits in the tens of dollars a day. Glass-style widgets already have a free rival gaining tens of thousands a week. And the version-number hype will get absorbed by the official feature when Samsung ships it next year.

Who it's for: Designer-type developers who already run a content account in a phone community (Samsung, Xiaomi, Pixel, iPhone customization) with a few thousand to tens of thousands of followers. Also people who want a small, steady paid tool and don't expect it to be their living.

Who it's not for: Anyone with no audience who wants to start from zero with this trick. Remove the 60k followers and the YouTube video, and this app is just another widget pack in the store. Anyone aiming for big revenue: this price point and audience ceiling are very low.

How to do it: Don't copy "One UI 9.5 Widgets". Find the next version number nobody has claimed yet: Xiaomi HyperOS, OPPO ColorOS, the next Pixel Android version, the next iOS lock screen and widgets. List during the months after the leak appears and before the stable release ships. Use a variant name to avoid trademark issues (it used One 9.5). Don't copy its paywall: the most common complaint in reviews is "95% want a subscription". Give enough away for free, let people fall in love first, then charge. Real-time widgets like music and weather need to work reliably first, because the first wave of bad reviews all came from there.

How to get users: Content first, product second. Post on Threads, X, and TikTok with things like "new features leaked from the next system version, you can use them now", and run the beta like a serial. Give out promo codes on launch day. Find YouTube tutorial channels in the same circle and get them to make "works on any XX phone" videos, with the store link in the first line of the description. It costs almost nothing.

When to get in early: Each version number's window is the few months between the leak and the stable release. This One UI 9.5 wave has already been taken by it and a few copycats. Expect Samsung's official feature to take it over once One UI 2027 ships with the S27 early next year. The next wave depends on each brand's leaks in spring and summer next year.

Signs you've misread it: ① If by late November its total installs are still around 3,000 and its bestseller rank has dropped out of the top 100, the built-in-fan wave is used up and this playbook only lasts about a week. ② The reverse: if within a month it passes 10k and gets into the top 30 of the personalization bestsellers, the version-number keyword has steady search volume, so it's worth trying even without a following. ③ If it gets another bump when Samsung officially pushes One UI 9.5, then "claim the name first, cash in again when the official version lands" works.

Data and sources

• Installs, chart ranks, in-app purchase prices: public Google Play data, 2026-11-01 to 11-06.
• Store page: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.at.oneui9 (11-06 read: 1K+ downloads, 4.0 stars, 28 reviews, 11-02 updates); developer page play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7238328828350705600.
• Reviews: Google Play, 11-03, 11-05.
• X: x.com/AndroidTools3/status/2116184356532183071 (posted 10-30, read 11-06).
• Threads: threads.com/@android_tools4u (read 11-06).
• YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=0Kdt3cPTG34 (Android Expert, read 11-06); TikTok @androidtools4you (11-06).
• One UI 9.5 leak: Android Authority, 2026-08-20.
• Platinmods: 1.1.0 Pro unlocked version post.
• Where the text says "inferred" or "estimated", it's an inference or estimate. There is no direct evidence for revenue, for whether Android Expert charges, or for the relationships behind the developer accounts.