One UI 8 Watch Update is Out with a Bag of Awesome New Features
The One UI 8 Watch update, announced with the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch Ultra (2025), is considerably a major leap forward for the Galaxy Watch in terms of features. While it was expected to hit later for earlier Watch models, Samsung seems to surprise us by releasing the major Wear OS 6-based software today, with the original Watch Ultra getting the first dibs.
The release of One UI 8 Watch is quite surprising, as it was initially thought that the new Galaxy Watch 8 (review) would get some brief exclusivity with the new operating system. Now, Samsung has officially announced that it is releasing the One UI 8 Watch first to last year's Galaxy Watch Ultra (review).
Several users across the world wide web confirmed having received the update, including unlocked and carrier-tied models. The over-the-air update is a pretty big one, weighing in at about 1.9 GB, though it could vary based on the smartwatch variants. At the same time, those in the beta program will get a patch to transition them to the stable version.
As for the changes and new features, One UI 8 Watch appears as a significant milestone. It does bring a new wave of health and wellness tracking features as part of Samsung Health.
Antioxidant Index
One of these new features is the Antioxidant Index, which uses a non-invasive method to measure the carotenoids in a user's skin, which function as antioxidants. Users need to place their finger on the BioActive sensor in the Galaxy Watch for five seconds to get an antioxidant level. The result is presented as a score between 0 and 100, with the latter being the highest and most adequate.
As usual, having an adequate level of antioxidants indicates how healthy a person is. The tool also provides suggestive measures like increased intake of vegetables and fruits to boost carotenoid levels.
Vital Sleep Tracking Tools
The update also introduces Bedtime Guidance, which, as the name suggests, provides personalized bedtime recommendations based on a user's sleep patterns and activities. It is integrated with sleep coaching to help users improve sleep and address irregular sleep patterns.
Vascular Load is another tracking tool that is related to sleep. This measures the circulatory stress in the vascular system during sleep, which is an important indicator of a user's overall health.
Running Coach and Mindfulness
Runners and athletes would also benefit from the new Running Coach feature in One UI 8 Watch. This fitness tool provides personalized training plans based on fitness levels and goals. Basically, it will require a runner to have a 12-minute assessment to determine their fitness level and create a performance analysis. There's also real-time coaching during runs.
A familiar feature that is just coming to Galaxy Watch is Mindfulness, which is a tool to manage stress and anxiety. It comes with breathing exercises to aid in reducing stress levels.
New Smart Features and Customizations
In addition to the new tracking tools, One UI 8 Watch introduces new UI tweaks and enhancements, including the Now Bar from One UI 8. It appears as a widget displayed at the bottom of the watch face that shows current tasks and works with most first-party apps and workouts.
The update also enables users to combine multiple app tiles into one and receive watch face recommendations based on preferences. Plus, the double pinch gesture now supports music control, dismissing notifications, and taking a photo.
Most of these features are also planned for the Galaxy Watch 7, given it shares the same sensor and processor as the Galaxy Watch Ultra, although we don't know when the update will arrive for that smartwatch. There's no timeline for older Galaxy Watch models as well.
Are you excited to update your Galaxy Watch to One UI 8 Watch? Which features are you looking forward to test first? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Samsung
