These Samsung Galaxy Watches won't be getting the new One UI update

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic will not receive the One UI 9 Watch update, making the 2021 lineup the only Galaxy Watch products left out of Samsung's latest smartwatch operating system. The exclusion also covers limited editions of the watch, including the Galaxy Watch 4 Golf Edition and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic Thom Browne Edition.

The cutoff reflects the software support policy attached to the devices. Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 lineup has already received four major OS upgrades: One UI Watch 4.5, One UI 5 Watch, One UI 6 Watch and One UI 8 Watch. Samsung has raised software support for the newer Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 to five major OS upgrades, while earlier models in the Watch lineup receive four.

Samsung released the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 in August with One UI 9 Watch. The company has also been distributing beta versions of the OS for the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch 8 lineups, with the sixth One UI 9 Watch beta update arriving in late October for Galaxy Watch 8 and Galaxy Watch 8 Classic owners in South Korea.

The Galaxy Watch 5, Galaxy Watch 5 Pro and later models will receive One UI 9 Watch by the end of 2026. Features in the update include a refined visual interface, the ability to raise a wrist to activate an AI assistant, and health metrics such as Daily Cardio Load and a Heart Health Score.

For Galaxy Watch 4 owners, the loss of One UI 9 Watch does not affect performance, but the devices will no longer receive bug fixes, new features or security updates. Future app compatibility is also uncertain. The lineup's retirement closes a chapter for Samsung's watches: the Galaxy Watch 4 marked the shift from Tizen OS to a custom-skinned version of Google's Wear OS.

Samsung's newer hardware offers a longer support window. The Galaxy Watch 9, which debuted in August, adds sleep apnea detection and skin temperature tracking and promises five years of upgrades, compared with three years of guaranteed updates for the Pixel Watch 5. Users who want the physical rotating bezel of the Watch 4 Classic can look to the Watch 8 Classic.

Owners of the older watches have alternatives to replacing them. Legacy Galaxy Watches can be sold, recycled or traded in, or repurposed as a dedicated sleep tracker, smart home dashboard or media remote, or passed on to someone else.

More gadget news from TechManNews.