No One UI 8 Watch Beta for Galaxy Watch 4 — Is This the End?

Samsung recently announced the One UI 8 Watch beta program to test its Wear OS 6-based update ahead of the Galaxy Watch 8 launch. While the announcement is exciting for many Galaxy Watch users, there’s a glaring omission — the Galaxy Watch 4 series is not on the list of eligible devices. This raises an uncomfortable question: Is this the end of the road for the 2021 Samsung watches?

Galaxy Watch 4 could miss out on One UI 8 Watch

According to Samsung, the One UI 8 Watch beta will be available for the Galaxy Watch 5 and newer models later this month. The company hasn’t revealed why the Galaxy Watch 4 is excluded, but the implications are hard to ignore. All succeeding models get the beta update, suggesting that the 2021 lineup has reached the twilight of its update life.

The Galaxy Watch 4 was the first Samsung smartwatch to ditch Tizen in favor of Google’s revamped Wear OS. It marked a new chapter in Samsung’s wearable journey, with the company promising four years of OS and security updates. Unlike smartphones, the Korean firm’s software support commitment for watches is not tied to a specific number of OS versions, but to a fixed timeframe.

Launched in August 2021, the promised support will elapse this August. Users expected Samsung to update the Galaxy Watch 4 series to One UI 8 Watch before pulling the plug. However, their absence from the One UI 8 Watch beta strongly suggests that major feature updates are unlikely going forward.

To be clear, Samsung hasn’t outright confirmed that support for the Galaxy Watch 4 is ending. However, it looks like its days of fresh features and frequent updates are behind it. Samsung will soon launch the Galaxy Watch 8 series with One UI 8 Watch out of the box. If you plan to buy any of these watches, you can sign up for our Mystery Box program and score exclusive gifts.