Newsletter
Samsung is rolling out a new update to the Galaxy Watch 6 series. It brings the November security patch and a few other changes. The company doesn’t seem to be pushing any notable new features to the new smartwatches.
Galaxy Watch 6 series gets the November security update
Samsung released the Galaxy Watch 6 in August this year. The new smartwatches, which include a base model and a Classic model, arrived running One UI 5 Watch based on Wear OS 4. Over the past few months, the Korean firm has improved the functionality of the devices with support for new apps and enhancements to Samsung Health.
However, the wearables haven’t received any major updates yet. They debuted with the June 2023 security patch and are still running it. Samsung did push a small update in September to fix the silly spelling error in one of the built-in watch faces (APRIL was spelled as ARRIL), but a newer security patch wasn’t part of it.
The latest release finally changes that. It bumps the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic to the November 2023 security patch, the latest available today. The update is rolling out with the firmware build number AWK4 (the last four characters) and is available widely in Europe and the US for Bluetooth and LTE models. A global rollout should follow soon.
Samsung’s official changelog doesn’t disclose much, only stating that the update brings stability and reliability improvements to the watches. However, there appears to be a lot more to the story. Verizon’s update tracker for the Galaxy Watch 6 reveals the latest release removes the “Samsung” prefix from app names for some first-party apps.
For example, Samsung Wallet is simply called Wallet following the latest update. Likewise, Samsung Pay is Pay, Samsung Health is Health, and Samsung Global Goals is Global Goals. The company is doing this for simplification. Since watches have smaller screens, shorter app names fit better. Samsung may push this change to more Galaxy Watch models in the coming weeks.
There may not be any major new features
The latest update for the Galaxy Watch 6 series doesn’t seem to bring any new features. If you are using the new Samsung smartwatch, you can check for updates through the Galaxy Wearable app on your connected smartphone. Open Watch settings, go to Watch software update, and tap on Download and install. You can also check for updates directly through the Settings app on the watch.