Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra alongside its folding phones in July last year, and with them came a number of clever software features, including offering you an Energy Score every morning based on a collection of metrics.
A number recent reports from Android Authority based on several APK teardowns suggest Samsung’s smartwatches could be in for a treat in the coming months when the rumored One UI 8 Watch update lands, however.
There are three separate reports revealing a breakdown of features that may appear on the Galaxy smartwatches, with the most prevalent being One UI 7’s Now Bar making its way over from Galaxy phones. According to the teardown from a leaked version of the SecClockWorkSysUI (version 4.0.57) APK, Android Authority found strings of code suggesting Samsung is tailoring the Now Bar for the smartwatch interface.
The report claims the Now Bar on the Galaxy Watch could land as a simple icon, or a more comprehensive display showing both an icon and text when the screen is on. It’s said the Now Bar might be a widget system showing contextually aware data without you needing to navigate away from the main watch face, with information like Media Controls, the Now Brief and live sports scores, as well as Maps appearing.
It was also suggested that gesture-based actions will allow you to double pinch in order to open the Now Bar on your Galaxy Watch, which we presume will work in a similar way to how double pinching on Apple Watch allows you to perform certain actions like starting a workout or accepting a call.
What else might One UI 8 Watch bring to your Samsung smartwatch?
In a separate report, Android Authority found a code string in the Battery app (version 4.0.00.8) for Galaxy Watch that suggests Samsung is working on introducing a battery protection feature to its wearables too. If true, it could see a charging limit of a certain percentage, like 80 per cent, to protect the overall battery life.
Lastly, there’s also a report suggesting there could be some new watch face features coming with One UI 8 Watch too. Android Authority suggests Samsung could be working on new options for watch faces on Galaxy Watches, as well as the ability for users to set favorite faces and randomize which one is active. Sadly, the teardown didn’t see anything for automating that randomization, but it did indicate there may be some scope for recommending new watch face options based on the ones you have already selected as your favorites.
For now, none of these features are confirmed by Samsung to be coming to Galaxy Watch models, but if any of them are true, it looks like One UI 8 Watch could be an exciting update.
Britta is a freelance technology journalist who has been writing about tech for over a decade. She’s covered all consumer…
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