At last! Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 owners are finally getting Wear OS 5 after months of testing

Got a Galaxy Watch 6, 5 or 4? You're about to get a Wear OS 5 update

News By Matt Evans published 25 October 2024

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 owners, and later users of the Galaxy Watch 5 and 4 series, are about to get a Wear OS 5 update after months of beta testing.

This update for some of the best Android watches comes from a recent Reddit post (first spotted via Android Police) with a screencap from Samsung to a beta tester, notifying them that the beta testing process has finished. Android Police reports that a new Wear OS 5 firmware update should arrive “in the next few days” for Galaxy Watch 6 owners who are not part of the beta program.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and 4 owners can also expect a Wear OS 5 firmware update, although that will reportedly not be available for another few weeks.

Wear OS 5 will be launched, as usual, with Samsung’s One UI Watch interface. One UI Watch 6 is the latest version of Samsung’s interpretation of Wear OS, and Galaxy Watch 6 owners will be prompted to switch over via a software update.

The new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is already using One UI Watch 6. It's receiving very good reviews, thanks to new features such as the Energy Score that's also used by the Samsung Galaxy Ring.

Analysis: Samsung succeeds where Google is struggling

Samsung has completed its testing and rollout of Wear OS 5, but Google is having a few problems with its own operating system. While Wear OS 5 is running on the Pixel Watch 3, Google has halted the rollout for the original Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2.

Users were reporting their devices being bricked by the new operating system, so Google is still working out the kinks there.

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