Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 & Watch Ultra receive their first update

Samsung unveiled the all-new Galaxy Watch Ultra alongside the Galaxy Watch 7 smartwatches during the Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this month. Both these Galaxy smartwatches went on sale just last week. Samsung now released the first software OTA update which includes quite a few bug fixes and stability improvements as well. As per the changelog, the update also includes the June 1, 2024 security patch.

Users can update their new Galaxy smartwatches by downloading the latest update through the Galaxy Wearable app on their smartphone. They need to navigate to Watch settings and tap on Watch software update to see the “Download and install” button. The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra update with version L705FXXU1AXFB is 330.5MB in size.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 & Ultra gets new One UI 6.0 Watch update

For the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, the update comes as version L310XXU1AXG2 and is just 173.5 MB in size. Samsung also mentioned there will be performance enhancement. There are several reports suggesting serious battery drain issues on the newly launched Galaxy smartwatches. The company claims the 40mm Galaxy Watch 7 with a 300mAh battery and the 44mm variant with a 425mAh battery to last up to 40 hours.

Whereas the Galaxy Watch Ultra with a bigger 590mAh battery is claimed to offer up to 80 hours of battery life. As per the initial reports, both these smartwatches could barely last up to 12 hours, which is much lower than what the company has claimed. Samsung acknowledged the significant battery drain issues reported by users of the new Galaxy smartwatches, which fell far short of the promised battery life.

Samsung expected to fix the battery drain issues on their new smartwatches

While the company hasn’t explicitly stated that this update resolves the problem, the changelog’s mention of performance enhancements suggests a potential fix. If you are the new owner of a Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra or Galaxy Watch 7, the new OTA update could improve the battery life making your smartwatches last much longer. Beyond battery life, the update is also expected to introduce Galaxy AI enabled features like Energy Scores and Sleep Insights

Both these features are part of One UI 6.0 watch update but were missing from both the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra out of the box. With the Energy Scores, the new Galaxy smartwatches provide a score based on various data points including Sleep, Activity, Sleeping Heart Rate, and Sleeping Heart Rate Variability. The company also improved the sleep algorithms as part of Sleep Insights to offer much more accurate data.