Stable One UI 8 Watch finally lands on the Galaxy Watch Ultra

What you need to know

• The 2024 Galaxy Watch Ultra just became the first Wear OS watch to grab the Wear OS 6-based One UI 8 Watch update.
• Samsung pushed out the stable update just weeks after kicking off the beta, skipping a second round entirely.
• New tools like Running Coach, Bedtime Guidance, Vascular Load, and Antioxidant Index are here to nudge you into better habits.

Samsung is kicking off the One UI 8 Watch rollout to older smartwatch models, starting with the first-gen Galaxy Watch Ultra.

The South Korean tech giant today announced the rollout of One UI 8 Watch to the Galaxy Watch Ultra, with U.S. users on Reddit confirming it’s live. The update brings over the new health features and streamlined UI first seen on the Galaxy Watch 8 series.

Samsung clearly wasted no time. Today's release comes just weeks after opening beta testing in the U.S. and South Korea, skipping what many expected to be a second testing round. For now, it looks like only the 2024 flagship watch is getting the upgrade.

Essentially, the Galaxy Watch Ultra (2024) is the first current Wear OS smartwatch to get the Wear OS 6 update, beating even the newly announced Galaxy Watch 8 and 2025 Watch Ultra. Samsung may have shown off its latest and greatest Android smartwatches with One UI 8 Watch out of the box, but they haven’t hit stores yet.

Health features, upgraded

The update brings a bunch of new tools to the Galaxy Watch Ultra, like Running Coach, Bedtime Guidance, Vascular Load, and Antioxidant Index. These features are all aimed at helping you build better habits with more personalized health insights.

And there’s more. Galaxy Watch Ultra users are also getting the updated One UI 8 Watch look. It’s been reworked to fit the smaller screen better, so the stuff you actually need is front and center.

This update is a hefty one, close to 2GB, so expect it to take a while to download and install.