Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and 8 Classic run One UI 8 out of the box

At its Galaxy Unpacked event today, Samsung unveiled two new smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. Both wearables have a radically new design compared to their predecessors. They also come with a brand-new software out of the box: One UI 8 Watch.

Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic are first smartwatches to run Wear OS 6 and One UI 8 Watch

Google announced Wear OS 6 a few weeks ago at the Google I/O 2025 event, and it is landing first on the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. They run Wear OS 6-based One UI 8 Watch software. While it brings all the under-the-hood improvements showcased with Wear OS 6, its UI design is very different.

samsung galaxy watch 8 vs watch 8 classic

Samsung's new smartwatches will likely get four Wear OS updates and security patches for up to four years.

One UI 8 Watch brings a new vertical grid layout and favorite apps in the app launcher, up to two Tiles on one screen, Now Bar, a new layout for notifications, and at least seven new watch faces. It also brings Google Gemini as the default voice assistant, and it integrates with Samsung's stock apps, including Samsung Health.

Pre-Order Galaxy Watch 8

Samsung E-Shop

One UI 8 Watch also brings four new health-related features. They are Antioxidant Index, Bedtime Guidance, Running Coach, and Vascular Load.

Antioxidant Index: This feature checks for carotenoid levels in your blood. Excessive free radicals in the body can accelerate ageing, and antioxidants can help contain free radicals. Antioxideants like carotenoids are found in select fruits and vegetables, including bell peppers, carrots, citrus fruits (oranges and tangerines), kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes.

Bedtime Guidance: It learns your habits and suggests an optimal bedtime to help you get enough restful sleep for maximum alertness the next day. It analyzes your circadian rhythm and sleep pressure for the past three days.

Running Coach: It helps beginners become better runners by suggesting safe running intensity and injury-preventive routines. It offers motivation and real-time guidance to improve running performance through a personalized program.

Vascular Load: It measures stress on your vascular system during the night. Ideally, stress should decrease while you are sleeping, but if it fluctuates a lot, it could point to higher vascular load, which is not good for your heart health. It suggests better routines and habits to decrease vascular load and for a healthier lifestyle.

The new version of One UI Watch also brings several other improvements in the stock apps, support for better first-party and third-party watch faces, better battery life, smoother animations, better media controls, and smoother transition between active screen and AOD screen modes.

With Rotating Bezel

Pre-Order Galaxy Watch 8 Classic

Samsung E-Shop

Asif Iqbal Shaik - Senior Editor

[email protected]

First Samsung device: T100

Asif is a computer engineer turned technology journalist. He has been using Samsung phones since 2004, and his current smartphone is the Galaxy S21 Ultra. He loves headphones, mechanical keyboards, and PC hardware. When not writing about technology, he likes watching crime and science fiction movies and TV shows.

Firmware Watch Galaxy Watch 8 Galaxy Watch 8 Classic One UI 8 Watch