The Galaxy S25 Ultra's S Pen gets wonky with magnetic accessories on

Angled view of all four Galaxy S25 Ultra colors with S Pens unsheathed
(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Magnetic accessories can mess with the Galaxy S25 Ultra's S Pen’s performance, just like on the S24 Ultra.
  • Thicker cases might reduce interference, as shown when a MagSafe adapter didn’t trigger a warning.
  • So far, this seems like an isolated issue, but we’re waiting for Samsung’s response.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra stands out from the regular models thanks to its built-in S Pen. However, this version of the stylus takes a step backward. Samsung decided to drop Bluetooth connectivity and Air Command support, which means some of the cool features you might be used to are now missing. On top of that, we've learned that if you’re using magnetic accessories, they can mess with the S Pen’s performance.

Android Central's Andrew Myrick shared an interesting tidbit about his experience with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. While using a Fiberborne case, he got a heads-up from the phone itself—a pop-up message that states: "Magnetic accessories can interfere with your S Pen: The magnets in accessories can interfere with the signals your S Pen sends to your phone. They may cause your S Pen to not write correctly or cause Air commands to occur unintentionally."

This isn’t exactly a new problem, though. In fact, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has been dealing with the same S Pen interference issue for over 10 months now. Since it first popped up, there have been plenty of reports from users noticing how magnetic accessories can throw off the stylus' signal.

Interestingly, the S24 Ultra’s S Pen comes with Bluetooth and Air Command support—features that didn’t make the cut for the S25 Ultra.

Despite that difference, both phones show the exact same warning about magnetic accessories interfering with the S Pen. This makes you wonder: did Samsung just forget to tweak the warning message for the S25 Ultra, or was dropping Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) from the S Pen a last-minute change? Either way, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher.

Furthermore, Myrick noticed that when he slapped a MagSafe adapter onto Samsung’s silicone case, the warning message about S Pen interference never appeared. This hints that the thickness of the case—and how far the magnets are from the S Pen—plays a big role in whether interference happens.

We’ve reached out to Samsung to get their take on this and will keep you posted as soon as they get back to us.

So far, we haven’t been able to find any other S25 Ultra devices where this same issue has popped up. It seems like this might be a one-off situation, at least for now.

Jay Bonggolto
News Writer & Reviewer

Jay Bonggolto always keeps a nose for news. He has been writing about consumer tech and apps for as long as he can remember, and he has used a variety of Android phones since falling in love with Jelly Bean. Send him a direct message via Twitter or LinkedIn.

  • waqqas31
    This is not really "news", TBH. Anyone who has owned a couple or more recent S Pen enabled devices can tell you that when you have a magnetic accessory such as MagSafe accessories or even kickstands with an embedded magnet (like the Spigen U101/U102), you will get dead zones adjacent to the magnets when using the S Pen.
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