One UI 9 Watch beta for Galaxy smartwatches could be here soon

TL;DR

A One UI 9 Watch beta firmware has been spotted on Samsung’s servers, suggesting a launch for existing Galaxy smartwatches may be near.

Samsung began testing One UI 9 Watch on the Galaxy Watch 8 in July, but the public beta has not started yet.

Based on past beta rollouts, the program may at least include the Galaxy Watch 6 series and up.

The One UI 9 Watch beta program for existing Samsung smartwatches could finally be close to launching. A One UI 9 Watch beta firmware for the Galaxy Watch 8 has been spotted on Samsung's servers.

Samsung started testing One UI 9 Watch for the Galaxy Watch 8 series back in July. At the time, there was some hope that the public beta program would begin before the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 were officially unveiled.

That would have mirrored what Samsung did last year, when it launched the One UI 8 Watch beta program for existing watches before unveiling the Galaxy Watch 8 and Galaxy Watch 8 Classic.

That didn't happen this time. The Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 have already been unveiled and have gone on sale in several markets, with both running One UI 9 Watch (based on Wear OS 7) out of the box.

But with the new watches now on retail shelves, Samsung will hopefully waste little time bringing One UI 9 Watch to existing models through the beta program.

Which watches will get the One UI 9 Watch beta?

Samsung made the One UI 8 Watch beta program available for the Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Watch 6, and Galaxy Watch 5 lineups, even though the stable update was also released for the Galaxy Watch 4 series.

Based on that precedent, we can expect the One UI 9 Watch beta program to expand at least as far back as the Galaxy Watch 6 series, though the stable update will also come to the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro.

Update: Beta firmware has been spotted for the Galaxy Watch 7 as well, another sign the beta program could start soon.

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

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First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

Firmware Watch Galaxy Watch 6 Galaxy Watch 6 Classic Galaxy Watch 8 Galaxy Watch 8 Classic Galaxy Watch Ultra One UI 9 Watch Wear OS 7