Samsung Week! Galaxy S23 Ultra: Save up to $800. Order the brand new Galaxy S23 FE up to $300 discount!

SamMobile has affiliate and sponsored partnerships. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a commission.

As it moves to Wear OS, Samsung wants owners of its first Android watch to switch to Tizen

Watch
By 

Last updated: July 3rd, 2021 at 23:59 UTC+02:00

Samsung's return to an Android-based operating system for its smartwatches is happening later this year, with the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active set to run Wear OS instead of Samsung's Tizen OS. This move is going to, among other things, bring much needed access to a wider selection of apps for Samsung's smartwatches, but the company will not be switching over existing watches running Tizen to Wear OS, a move that has attracted criticism from some of its diehard fans.

No more apps for you if you continue to use Android on your Galaxy Gear

This is in stark contrast to what Samsung did when it moved from Android to Tizen for its smartwatches. The first Galaxy smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, which ran a custom version of Android, was given an update to Tizen. And, well, Samsung thinks customers who are still hanging on to that watch have had enough time to do the operating system switch and is going to require them to upgrade their watch to Tizen in order to continue using the Galaxy Store for downloading apps, at the same time it's going to switch back to Android with its new watches.

Come August 5, Samsung will stop offering Galaxy Store support on the Galaxy Gear, meaning apps and other services will cease to be a thing. However, Samsung says customers can upgrade to Tizen to continue using the Galaxy Store. It's hard to say how many folks out there are still rocking a Galaxy Gear  — which came out in 2013 — and haven't installed the Tizen OS update in all these years, but the number clearly isn't zero or Samsung wouldn't be making this announcement all these years later.

If you do own a Galaxy Gear and update it to Tizen, your watch will be reset and all its data removed, so if you took any covert pictures or videos with its camera, you might want to back them up before performing the upgrade. Some apps will also not be available or work after Tizen is installed, which is one of the biggest reasons why Samsung is returning to Android in the first place. Talk about irony, eh?

Do you own the Galaxy Gear and continue to use it to this day?

Samsung Galaxy Gear app support

Watch Galaxy GearTizenWear OS

You might also like

Google Assistant gets new Tile for Wear OS smartwatches

Google Assistant gets new Tile for Wear OS smartwatches

Google has been consistently adding new features to Wear OS over the past couple of years, and the latest feature to come to Wear OS is a tile for Google Assistant. This new feature is rolling out to all Wear OS 3 and Wear OS 4-based smartwatches, so Galaxy Watch 4 and newer wearables should […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 1 week ago
Qualcomm one-ups Samsung by announcing RISC-V based smartwatch chip

Qualcomm one-ups Samsung by announcing RISC-V based smartwatch chip

Qualcomm announced something big today, just a few days before the unveiling of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. The company announced that it is working with Google on a smartwatch processor that uses RISC-V instruction set architecture rather than ARM. This is the first time that the company is working on a RISC-V chipset, […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 1 week ago
Peloton app gets watch face complication for Wear OS smartwatches

Peloton app gets watch face complication for Wear OS smartwatches

App support for Wear OS smartwatches has been improving tremendously over the past couple of years. Various third-party app developers have been bringing their apps to Wear OS smartwatches since the Galaxy Watch 4 was launched. Now, Peloton, which launched its Wear OS app earlier this year, has introduced a watch face complication. The Peloton […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 2 weeks ago
Google Calendar app is now available for Wear OS Galaxy Watches

Google Calendar app is now available for Wear OS Galaxy Watches

Late last year, Google promised to release more apps for Wear OS-based smartwatches. After the launch of the Gmail app for Wear OS last week, Google has now released the Google Calendar app for all recent Wear OS smartwatches, including Samsung's compatible Galaxy Watches. Google Calendar Wear OS app is now available The Google Calendar […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 2 weeks ago
You can now listen to audiobooks on Galaxy Watch via Audible’s Wear OS app

You can now listen to audiobooks on Galaxy Watch via Audible’s Wear OS app

After announcing the Wear OS app in July, along with the launch of the Galaxy Watch 6 series, Amazon-owned audiobook service Audible has finally launched its Wear OS app. The official Wear OS app is now available on the Play Store and supports offline downloads, and you can adjust the playback speed of the podcast […]

  • By Sagar Naresh
  • 3 weeks ago
AllTrails finally gets a Wear OS app, works offline as well

AllTrails finally gets a Wear OS app, works offline as well

Here's some great news for bikers and hikers: the popular hiking app AllTrails has finally launched its Wear OS app for Android users. The app works offline and even with downloaded maps. Users of the popular Wear OS smartwatches, such as the Galaxy Watch 6 and Google Pixel Watch, can now get a sense of hiking […]

  • By Sagar Naresh
  • 3 weeks ago