Samsung announced the Galaxy Watch in New York on August 9, alongside the Galaxy Note 9. Both the Samsung flagships has since gone on to hit the streets of a number of markets around the world. However, as the Galaxy Watch reaches more hands, we’re starting to see a number of complaints about issues with the very features of the watch people tend to buy it for.
Starting with the battery life, which apparently isn’t as much as Samsung claims, users are complaining about issues with step counter, HRM, sleep tracker, and much more. One can find countless reports on Galaxy Watch issues on Samsung’s forum and in a Facebook group. Samsung has acknowledged the issues but there’s still no fix in sight.
Galaxy Watch issues
Samsung advertised the Galaxy Watch to offer a battery life of up to 4 days on normal usage (46mm variant). While it apparently held true for some users, some were forced to return the watch just because of a poor battery life. However, the watch’s issues don’t limit to batter life only. Pedometer (step counter), one of the most commonly used smartwatch features, also isn’t functioning as it should. Users are complaining about missing steps, particularly the first 15-20 steps after being still for a period are missing. Some users have posted better results by disabling auto tracking feature completely, but that never should be a permanent fix.
Furthermore, Galaxy Watch users are also complaining about sleep tracker not counting deep sleep. It apparently needs continuous HR to be enabled to do so. HR monitor, meanwhile, keeps losing track, especially during workouts. The watch itself shows correct data, but the same isn’t syncing correctly with Samsung Health.
The Galaxy Watch issues don’t stop there. Some users are also complaining about the watch to be unable to measure calories burnt correctly. The watch shows less amount of calories burnt as compared to other fitness trackers. This could, however, be due to HRM being out of sync.
With this being said, another big problem with the Galaxy Watch is its inconsistency. While it’s functioning well for some, issues inconsistently vary from person to person, even in the same region and with similar usage patterns.
No fix in sight
Last month, a moderator on Samsung’s forum acknowledged the issues with the step counter and HRM in Galaxy Watch. Samsung has also set-up a support page for troubleshooting the issues, which is by rebooting the watch when the problem is detected, and then disabling the Elliptical trainer and Rowing machine setting. “The issue will be resolved by a software update,” the support page states. But when? That’s the big question.
Works on fixes might already be underway, but it’s a high-end watch and users naturally feel they deserve better. Samsung, in fact, has already released the first firmware update for the Galaxy Watch but it didn’t seem to include any fixes.
Meanwhile, if you’re facing any issue with your Galaxy Watch, you can directly report it to Samsung for its software team to investigate. Here’s how you can do it:
- Always keep “Report Diagnostics” on the watch on. Yo can do that by going to Settings > About Gear > Report Diagnostics > Toggle On.
- Whenever you experience any issue, on your phone, launch Galaxy Wearable App > More (3 dots) > Contact us > Error Reports > Input Symptoms > SEND. Make sure that you do this within 15 minutes of the issue happening.
