Samsung reportedly pauses One UI 8 rollout for Galaxy Watch 4 series: here’s why

Samsung began the rollout of its latest OneUI 8 update to Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic earlier in the month but the Korean tech giant may have just stopped the update due to issues being faced by users. Multiple users on Samsung's own forums and platforms like Reddit have reported facing problems after updating to One UI 8.

Users have reported problems with rapid battery drain, touch unresponsiveness, broken sensors and even problems with Always on Display (AOD).

"Extremely laggy on all 3 of my watches. Tons of wasted space. Most tiles are useless to me now. Battery drain. Sleep tracking totally worthless." noted one user on Reddit

“I'm seeing a heavier battery drain as well, but these features are terrible. Why does each alarm require a separate bubble on the watch when the previous UI had all the alarms on one screen.” added another user

"Post the update the watch fails to detect sensors.The watch wrist detection says its not on my wrist and locks everytime the screen turns off." noted a user on Samsung forum

“After update mostly apps are crashing and phone became super slow and getting hang repeatedly” added another user

The inability to use key sensors on the watch mean that the watch would also require a password constantly, if one is set. It would also make basic features like Google Waller and notifications harder to use.

Since then many users have pointed out that they haven't received the OneUI 8 update on their Watch 4, which a report by Android Headlines notes could be a sign that the One UI 8 update may have been paused until the issues are fixed by the Korean tech giant. However, an official response from Samsung on the matter is still awaited.

The Galaxy Watch 4 series is almost 4 years old and this is the last major udpate that the smartwatches are set to receive. The two smartwatches come with a Super AMOLED display with a Armor Aluminium body on the Watch 4 and a Stainless Steel chasis on the Watch 4 Classic. The latter also comes with a rotating bezel that comes in handy during navigation.

They run on Samsung's own Exynos W920 processor and are paired with 1.5GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 16GB storage. The Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic come with IP68 rating for water and dust resistance along with MIL-STD-810G ratin for shock resistance.