SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung has started public beta tests of One UI 9 Watch on four older smartwatches, bringing its Wear OS 7 experience beyond the new Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2.
The rollout began on August 26 with the Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic in South Korea, carrying firmware version ZZH3 at about 2,010MB and bundled with the August 5, 2026 security patch. The Galaxy Watch 7 and the first generation Galaxy Watch Ultra joined the program this week, with the first builds reaching Korean watches on September 3 and 4.
For the Watch 7 the build is L300XXU2ZZI1 and for the Watch Ultra it is L310XXU2ZZI1 and L310OXM2ZZI1. Both are around 1.9GB in size and include the September 2026 security patch. Screenshots shared via the Samsung Members app and community forum show the update is available through a banner in Samsung Members, then pulled via the Galaxy Wearable app.
A second beta for the Watch 8 series followed today, according to tipsters and community reports, moving to firmware ZZI1 with the September patch. The release notes point to stabilization, Samsung Health fixes, watch face fixes and a fix for an Always On Display bug where time was displayed incorrectly.
Both programs run only in South Korea and the United States for now. Owners there enroll through the Samsung Members app after agreeing to a simplified onboarding process that Samsung says now requires accepting beta terms only once. Kenyan and other market watch owners cannot join and Samsung has not said whether the beta will expand to more markets, though it traditionally expands to the UK, India, Poland and Germany shortly after the domestic release.
One UI 9 Watch is Samsung's version of Wear OS 7. It launched on the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 which Samsung announced at Unpacked in London on July 22 and put on sale on August 7 alongside the Fold 8 and Flip 8.
The software brings a refreshed interface with a smaller default font and brighter colors, redesigned notifications and reworked tiles. The centerpiece is a redesigned Samsung Health app built around five areas: activity, mindfulness, nutrition, sleep and vitals.
New health tools include Vitals, which tracks heart rate, breathing rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen overnight to build a personal baseline, a Heart Health Score, a Fitness Index, and Daily Cardio Load which tells you how much recovery a hard workout needs. Runners can load GPX route files and use Trackback to retrace a route.
Reports on the Watch 7 beta say it carries Cardio Load, Sleep Vitals, Heart Health, Trackback, redesigned notifications and reworked tiles. Two features are notable because they were previously held back. According to SamMobile, the beta adds Antioxidant Index and Vascular Load to both the Watch 7 and original Watch Ultra, two health features Samsung's own fine print had ruled out for the Galaxy Watch 7 barely a year ago when One UI 8 Watch launched.
There is a catch for US owners. Samsung's US newsroom posted in July that Vascular Load will be discontinued in the United States starting Samsung Health version 7.0 and One UI 9 Watch, and will be replaced with Blood Pressure Trend. So US users may not see Vascular Load when the beta arrives locally.
Two features remain exclusive to the newest hardware. Samsung says Raise to Talk for Gemini, where you lift the watch to your mouth and speak without a wake word, is currently available on Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and Galaxy Watch 9. Trail Run, with live elevation data, is exclusive to the Watch Ultra 2.
For owners of older models such as the Galaxy Watch 6 series, Watch 5 series, Watch 5 Pro and Watch FE, Samsung is currently pushing only security and stability updates. Recent builds have been around 166MB to 200MB with the May and July 2026 patches.
Samsung noted the July patch fixed 57 security issues. Those models are still expected to get stable One UI 9 Watch later, with beta coverage anticipated back to the Watch 6 series, but no beta is live for them yet.
Samsung has not announced a stable release date. Based on last year's cadence, stable One UI 9 Watch is expected to begin rolling out to Watch 8, Watch 7 and Watch Ultra in October after two to three beta cycles, with older models following.
