Shortly before Tizen's farewell to Samsung's smartwatches is heralded with the Galaxy Watch 4, owners of Samsung's first ever smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, which came onto the market in 2013 with Android , a reminder, but please switch to Tizen to continue using the Galaxy Store.
The next unpacked event from Samsung is probably planned for August, at which the Galaxy Watch 4 is expected in addition to the folding smartphones Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. This is the first smartwatch from Samsung that will run on a software platform developed jointly with Google and will therefore have access to the Play Store. The platform itself does not yet have a name, but the recently introduced user interface from Samsung is called One UI Watch.
Tizen introduced firmware update 2.2
The fact that Tizen and Wear OS will be merged is interesting in that Samsung already had a smartwatch with Android in its range with the very first Galaxy Gear in 2013 – not Android Wear or Wear OS, but an adapted Android. For this watch there was a firmware update to version 2.2 in 2014, which switched the operating system to Tizen, which was later used by all generations of the Galaxy Gear and Galaxy Watch. The only exception was the Gear Live (test) published in summer 2014 as one of the first watches with Android Wear. The other was the LG G Watch (test).
No more access to the Galaxy Store
Seven years later, owners of the watch who continue to run it with the original Android will now be notified that the Galaxy Store for these watches will be discontinued on August 5, 2021 Korean time, according to All About Samsung. In order to be able to continue using apps from the Galaxy Store, the clock must be updated on Tizen, can be seen from a screenshot.
Anyone who still decides after all these years Should you switch from Android to Tizen, you must be aware that you will not be able to return to Android afterwards. Installing the other operating system also resets all data and settings, so photos (the watch came with a camera), videos, voice recordings and other data should be backed up in advance. Samsung also points out that “certain apps” will no longer be supported after the switch. Customers receive support in the Galaxy Store in the “Contact” area.