GoKawiil
Tech News
Smartwatches from Apple, Google and Samsung all include a basic flashlight feature that simply maxes out the display's brightness and turns it white. Despite mockery of the feature compared to a phone's dedicated camera flash, it proves genuinely useful for quick tasks like finding a dropped pill, precisely because the watch is already on your wrist rather than buried in a pocket or bag.
Samsung has begun rolling out the One UI 9 Watch beta to US-based owners of the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic, following an earlier launch in South Korea. The update, accessible through the Samsung Members app, brings a redesigned Galaxy Wearable app, revamped Samsung Health metrics, and new workout and camera remote features.
Some Samsung Galaxy Watch users, including owners of the Watch Ultra, Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 6 Classic, report their smartwatches fail to boot after a routine time zone update asks them to restart. Placing the watch on its charging puck has proven to revive it, according to reports from affected users and SamMobile's own testing.
Samsung has begun rolling out its Wear OS 7-based One UI 9 Watch beta to Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic devices, starting in South Korea. The update, roughly 2GB in size, includes a redesigned interface, expanded watch face customization, new safety features, and improved Samsung Health metrics like aerobic load and sleep vitals tracking. Samsung has also streamlined its beta sign-up process, letting users accept terms once for all future beta programs.
Several widely-used smartwatches, including Google's Pixel Watch 2, Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro, and multiple Apple Watch models, will lose software support in 2026. The devices will continue basic functions like fitness tracking and notifications but won't receive further feature updates or, in some cases, security patches. Apple is reportedly retiring five watch models in a single watchOS release, one of its largest support cuts to date.