January Update Fixes One UI 8 Watch Issues on Galaxy Watch 4

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Earlier this month, Samsung pushed new updates to two of its oldest Wear OS smartwatch lines: Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 series. Alongside the January 2026 security patch, the updates also included critical bug fixes, particularly for the Watch 4 models. Users have confirmed that the new release restores normal functionality after the One UI 8 Watch update caused widespread issues on their wearables.

One UI 8 Watch caused major issues on Galaxy Watch 4, January release fixes them

Soon after the One UI 8 Watch update began rolling out late last year, Galaxy Watch 4 owners started reporting a range of problems. Some of the most common complaints included health sensors failing to work, the always-on display (AOD) behaving inconsistently, noticeable performance slowdowns, and significantly worse battery life. Samsung acknowledged the issues and promised to fix them with the January 2026 update.

The company delivered on the promise, rolling out this month’s update to the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 lineups ahead of newer models. The official changelogs didn’t detail the fixes, but mentioned system stability and reliability improvements. Now that the updates have reached users worldwide, we are seeing reports confirming fixes for One UI 8 Watch issues.

Many users have taken to online forums like Reddit (via Android Authority) to report that health tracking features are functioning normally again. They also confirm improvements in overall system performance and battery life. Their Galaxy Watch 4 units are now delivering a runtime in the expected range after a sudden drop in the early days of One UI 8 Watch.

That said, a small number of users continue to experience problems with the always-on display. Fortunately, there’s a simple workaround: toggling AOD off and then back on in the settings menu often restores normal behavior. Hopefully, Samsung is looking at it and will push an official fix soon. We will let you know as soon as we get official confirmation from the company.

Written by

Sumit Adhikari

Sumit, a life-long Samsung user, is passionate about technology and has been professionally writing on tech since 2017. He’s a mathematics graduate by education and enjoys teaching basic mathematics tricks to school kids in his spare time. Sumit believes in artificial intelligence and dreams of a fully open, intelligent and connected world.

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