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Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Technology
Scott Younker

Samsung just gave older Galaxy Watches a major upgrade — all the new features

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.

If you're still rocking a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or a somewhat newer Galaxy Watch 5, we have good news. Samsung hasn't forgotten about you, as the Korean company released a One UI 6 Watch beta upgrade. 

Available to Samsung members, as reported by T3, the beta provides a look at some of the new capabilities that are coming with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra. Both are expected to debut during next week's Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event in Paris on July 10.

The beta is already available for those with the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. The One UI 6 Watch upgrade improves health tracking, including sleep insights. 

The beta adds a pinch gesture that enables users to select items on the screen and faster horizontal scrolling. 

For those who like to track workouts, the update allows you to combine a series of exercises together to create a custom workout routine.

It has been reported by 9to5Google that the One UI beta is limited to Bluetooth models only and excludes the LTE versions. This does include the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 4 LTE variants. Apparently, there is no explanation for why the update omits LTE models.

If you have an older Galaxy smartwatch, you can join the beta quickly with the following steps:

  1. Open the Samsung Members app.
  2. Find the card with the latest build for your watch.
  3. Tap that card.
  4. Join for your Watch model.
  5. Load the update load via the Galaxy Wearable app.

It has been suggested that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and the Watch Ultra will have the complete operating system right out of the box. So, for those who prefer a primarily bug-free OS, you might want to wait until those smartwatches are officially released. 

We expect to see both during Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event alongside the next-generation foldable phones, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Z Flip 6 and Samsung's take on a wearable ring, the Galaxy Ring. We should also see Samsung's version of Apple's AirPods in the redesigned Galaxy Buds 3.

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