Samsung has announced its One UI Watch 5h update is available for testing and it’s rolling out to Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 models.
The full release will be timed around the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic, which is likely to drop at Samsung Unpacked at the end of July.
One UI Watch 5 is based on Wear OS 4, which was already announced at Google I/O back in May.
It’s Samsung’s ‘version’ of the OS, and shares many of the features.
So in many ways, Samsung users are getting the update before Google ones, including owners of the flagship Google Pixel Watch.
Samsung
But it doesn’t seem like a full complement of the promised upgrades, and there’s no mention of the advanced sleep tracking, which led the announcement back at I/O.
However, a scan of the update changelog reveals a ton of new features – and the update will come at a whopping 1.5GB, which is massive in smartwatch terms.
Here’s a rundown of all the new features:
- Add watch faces and tiles more easily
- Improved Buds control tile
- Quick access to timers
- Use up to 20 timers at once
- Set an album as a watch face
- Auto-record cycling workouts
- Get HR zone guidance during running workouts
- Back up and restore
- More call controls
- Dictate text with Home Button
- Universal gesture controls
- Share medical details with Emergency SOS
- Organize apps in folders
However, in the original One UI Watch 5 announcement which we covered in detail on Wareable, there’s no mention of the sleep stages tracking, integrations with SmartThings, or Route Workouts.
So it seems as if Samsung is still working on some elements, possibly to be revealed as part of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 launch.
The rollout of the One UI 5 update seems to be limited to South Korea and the US for now.
To get the beta you need to head to the Samsung Members app, and join up.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.