One UI 8 Watch Beta on the Way, Running Coach to Enhance Fitness Tracking

It’s no secret that Samsung is gearing up to launch its One UI 8 beta program for Galaxy smartphones and tablets. In fact, the company has already made its beta community pages live in several countries. Now, it looks like Samsung will open a beta program for One UI 8 Watch as well, allowing Galaxy Watch users to try it before the stable launch. On top of that, a fresh leak revealed that the company may introduce a new feature called the Running Coach with One UI 8.

Samsung is preparing the One UI 8 Watch beta program

This year, Samsung has reportedly skipped One UI 6.5/ 7 Watch and will jump directly from Wear OS 5-based One UI 6 Watch to One UI 8 Watch, which will be based on Wear OS 6. The reason behind this move is that Samsung wants to align the Watch version numbers with the main One UI versions.

However, while we were expecting the next iteration of the wearable software to debut with the upcoming Galaxy Watch 8 series, Samsung reportedly plans to start a beta program first. Spotted by X users @theonecid, Samsung has recently listed the Galaxy Watch Ultra on its test server with the One UI 8 Watch beta build identified as ZYEG.

This suggests that the Korean firm may announce a beta program not only for Galaxy smartphones and tablets but also for watches simultaneously. Given that beta community pages are already live, we can expect the Samsung beta program to kick off in early June 2025.

The Running Coach feature may arrive with One UI 8

Meanwhile, tipster @GerwinvGiessen has spotted a new feature called the Running Coach within the One UI 8 internal build. This feature will improve users’ fitness experience by showing their fitness level and providing a personalized training plan.

Part of the Samsung Health app, this feature will require a Galaxy Watch as it uses real-time heart rate data to assess exercise intensity. The app will first measure fitness levels between 1 and 10, then guide users with a personalized training plan to help them reach their running goal.