Samsung has officially started rolling out the One UI 8 Watch beta update. It's the beginning of its Wear OS 6-based software for Galaxy smartwatches it announced weeks ago. The update became available for download on June 30, just as the company initially promised. For now, it’s limited to South Korea and the United States.
The rollout is starting with the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra, which makes sense given that they’re the newest models. Samsung plans to extend the update to other compatible watches later on, such as the Galaxy Watch FE and the Galaxy Watch 5 series.
There’s still no confirmation on whether the Galaxy Watch 4 series will receive the update. It was excluded from the program from the start and raised concerns on whether it will get the update or not.
New features coming to your Galaxy Watch
One UI 8 Watch introduces a refined interface with new visual elements like the Now Bar and Now Brief and their widgets. Particularly, Now Brief adds smart birthday reminders that use artificial intelligence. Alongside them, four health-related features have been introduced.
Antioxidant measurement, bedtime guidance, running insights, and vascular load tracking have come to improve how much of your health you can monitor from your wrist. At the same time, One UI 8 Beta is also open for the Galaxy S25 phone series. You may want to take advantage of both updates to get the latest features for your devices.
To download the update, launch the Samsung Members app, go to Beta Program and tap One UI 8 Watch 7 Beta or Ultra Beta. Then select Join. The update should be ready for installation afterward.
Antioxidant index uses a light-based BioActive Sensor to measure carotenoid levels in your skin in five seconds. It'll check how well your body is handling oxidative stress. Bedtime Guidance tracks when you fall asleep, how long you sleep, and how consistent your sleep schedule is. Then the system calculates a recommended bedtime window that gives you optimal rest.
Running Coach gives you a personalized running level after a 12-minute run, then creates a custom training plan for your fitness goal. It offers real-time coaching to help you improve safely and unlock new challenges as you progress.
Vascular Load measures how much stress your blood vessels experience during sleep using your Watch. Ideally, stress should drop while you sleep, but if it stays high or fluctuates too much, it could affect heart health. This feature gives you insights into how your lifestyle choices impact your cardiovascular system.
Not all of these features will be available on every model. You'll see the more advanced health features appearing on the Watch Ultra, Watch 7, Galaxy Watch 8, and future models. Samsung has updated the Health app to reflect these changes. You should see them if your device is eligible.
Is this the end of the road for Watch 4?
The full list of eligible devices for One UI Watch 8 beta include the following:
- Galaxy Watch Ultra.
- Galaxy Watch 7.
- Galaxy Watch FE.
- Galaxy Watch 6 & Watch 6 Classic.
- Galaxy Watch 5 & Watch 5 Pro.
The Galaxy Watch 4 is nowhere near the list. It was released in August 2021. At the time, Samsung committed to providing four years of major software updates. Four years from August 2021 takes us to August 2025, which is the cut-off point.
However, One UI 8 Watch update, which is based on Wear OS 6, is expected to roll out in its stable form around or just after August 2025. In fact, Samsung is only beginning its beta testing in late June 2025, which means the final release likely won’t arrive until after the four-year mark has passed.
Because of that timing, Samsung technically isn’t obligated to push the update to the Watch 4. That gives them a valid excuse to quietly exclude it from the list of eligible devices, even though you'd naturally expected to receive its latest update as part of that support.
