Samsung teased One UI 5 Watch, the next major release of its skin for Galaxy Watches, at the beginning of May 2023. While One UI 5 Watch will debut with the Galaxy Watch 6 series later this year, it will also make its way to the Galaxy Watch 5 and 4 series. A beta program for the skin was supposed to start in May but was delayed for unknown reasons. A week into June 2023, the One UI 5 Watch beta program is live for the company's existing Wear OS 3 watches.
If you live in South Korea or the US, you can join the beta program through the Samsung Members app. This is provided your Galaxy Watch 4/5 is paired with a Samsung phone. Otherwise, you cannot take part in the program. Plus, slots are limited, so join as soon as possible. The beta is not available for LTE and carrier-locked models of the watch.
Your smartwatch will get a beefy update of around 1.7-1.8GB in size after enrolling in the beta program. Make sure to put your watch on charge while downloading the firmware, as the installation will take a fair bit of time. The release will bump your Galaxy Watch to One UI 5 Watch and Android 13-based Wear OS 4.
Samsung previously detailed other One UI 5 Watch improvements, like a new sleep coaching feature, SmartThings integration, personalized heart rate zones, and a smarter SOS implementation.
The official change log of the update provides more insight into the new features, including a new vertical layout for scrolling through watch faces and tiles, the ability to start a timer directly from the tile, automatic cycling workout detection, heart rate guidance, additional call controls, and the option to organize apps into folders.
Given that the Galaxy Watch 6 series will debut in late July, expect One UI 5 Watch for Samsung's existing smartwatches to release around the same time.
Thanks: Moshe!