Samsung Galaxy smartwatch users, there’s enough time, but lately you will receive Live updates via Now Bar likely with One UI 8.5 Watch next year.
Google successfully concluded its I/O 2025 event this week, at which it announced that the Live Updates feature will be coming to all Wear OS-based wearables in late 2026. This means that Galaxy Watches based on Wear OS will also be compatible with receiving the Live Updates.
Currently. Samsung is gearing up to release the next major OS update for its smart watches, One UI 8 Watch, which is rumored to be introduced with the Galaxy Watch 8 series. On the other side, according to the announcement, Google will offer the Live Updates facility to wearables in late 2026. This means that One UI 8 Watch will not bring the Live Updates as it is coming this year.
Samsung is supposed to debut One UI 8.5 Watch and One UI 9 Watch in 2026, so the Galaxy Watches could receive the Live Updates with these upcoming OS versions. Recently, it’s been reported that One UI 8 Watch includes the Now Bar feature, but it only displays live notification updates from Samsung’s stock apps and a few Google apps.
Currently, Live Updates is only compatible with a few apps, such as cab hailing, ride sharing apps, food delivery, package delivery, and navigation apps, but it’s expected that Google could expand compatibility with more types of apps.
