With the release of the Galaxy Watch 6 series in August 2023, Samsung also released the new OS version. One UI 5 Watch for its Galaxy smartwatches. Eligible smartwatches are the Galaxy Watch 4 series, Galaxy Watch 5 series and Galaxy Watch 6 that already comes with the new OS.
There are many new features that are part of this new update. It’s been a few months already and everyone would have received the update by now. So now it’s time for guidance on new tips that you should try after One UI Watch 5 upgrade.
In this tips and tricks guide I will only talk about the new features on One UI Watch 5 as you might already know about the feature available in previous updates. Since One UI 5 Watch is still new to many users, some users may not be aware of every new cool feature. let’s get started.
Easily Transfer Watch to a New Phone
With the One UI 5 Watch update, users can now connect their Galaxy Watch to a new phone without the need of resetting the smartwatch. It makes things easy if you own multiple phones.
Transferring the Smartwatch to a new phone is quite easy. Either you can start the process directly from your Galaxy watch or you can use the Galaxy Wearable app. The new smartphone to which you are transferring the smartwatch need to have the same Google account as the smartwatch. And you will not be able to transfer it back to previous phone without resetting the watch.
Users will not loose any data after transferring the smartwatch to a new phone. But still taking backup is important.
Hide Connection Status
The connection status is a symbol that show if the smartwatch is connected to the smartphone or not. While the smartwatch is connected to phone, you will not see it. But once disconnected it will appear on top of smartwatch which doesn’t look good. The icon will show always when disconnected, charging, or a mode like DND.
To hide the connection status, go to Settings > Advanced features. Scroll down and open Status Indicators. Here select Hide after 2 seconds. The indicators will now show for only 2 seconds.
Universal Gestures
It is one of the new useful features that let users to control the Galaxy smartwatch without touching it. Yes, its quite similar to what Apple is advertising on its new Apple Watch models, but the universal gestures have even more controls.
There are four gestures, Pinch, Double Pinch, Make fist, and Make fist twice. Using these gestures you can navigate through available options and select the option you want. So basically most of the things you can do with these gestures.
The Universal Gestures are turned off by default, so to use this feature, you first need to enable it. Follow these steps to turn on Universal Gesture on Galaxy Watches.
- Open Settings on your Galaxy Smartwatch.
- Now navigate to Accessibility > Interaction and dexterity > Universal gestures.
- Open it and make sure to turn on the toggle.
You can learn how to use it by utilizing the available tutorial under gestures.
Battery Tile
One UI 5 Watch also comes with new widgets or tiles that make the watch more useful. One of the new tile includes the battery level of connected devices. It can show battery level of up to 3 connected devices along with its own battery level.
It’s quite similar to the Battery widget on Galaxy smartphones.
To add this tile, keep swiping to the left from watchface screen until the end. Now tap + icon and choose the battery tile. You can drag and drop to the place you prefer.
Create your own Workout
Many users buy a smartwatch to track their activity and workout. And Samsung Galaxy smartwatches comes with hundreds of workout to track by default. But not every workout are available.
With One UI Watch 5 update, Samsung allows users to add a new workout if its not available. To add a workout follow these steps.
- Swipe up to open app drawer.
- Open Samsung health > Work out.
- Swipe to the last and tap Add button followed by Create new exercise.
- Give a name and save the workout.
You can now open the created workout same as accessing other default workouts.
Voice Typing with Home button
If you use Samsung keyboard on smartwatch which is the default keyboard on Galaxy smartwatches, then you can easily switch to voice typing. When you open Samsung keyboard to type, just press and hold the Home button to launch voice typing.
Make sure that Samsung Keyboard is set to default keyboard and not Google Keyboard. To do that open Settings > General > Input > Keyboard list and default > Default keyboard.
Auto camera preview
This feature is useful for latest Galaxy foldable users. When you open the Galaxy Flip5 or Galaxy Fold5 camera in flex mode or tint mode, you will see the camera icon on your Galaxy Watch.
Tapping the camera icon will open Camera controller where you can see camera preview along with controls. If you have eligible devices, you don’t need to manually open the controls from camera app.
Wireless Debugging
WiFi or Wireless Debugging is one of the most used feature in Smartwatches because it let users install apps through apk files. There are many other uses of WiFi Debugging like removing default apps that you can remove directly from watch. It is available in Developer Options.
Yes, the feature is present on all wearOS smartwatches, but with One UI Watch 5 update, the process to use USB Debugging has changed. You can check the method to enable Wireless debugging on this guide.
Organize apps
One UI Watch 5 brings an option to easily organize and manage apps in app drawer. You can create folders to keep similar apps in one place. This will allow users to easily access apps without scrolling through every apps.
If you want to add more tips to this list, you can use the comment section below.
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