AssembleDebug / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Samsung is bringing One UI 7’s Now Bar to Galaxy Watches.
- We’ve found evidence revealing what the Now Bar will look like on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch lineup, along with the types of information it will display.
- The feature is likely part of the upcoming One UI 8 Watch update.
Samsung appears to be preparing a major software and UI upgrade for its Galaxy Watch lineup. We now have strong evidence suggesting that the popular Now Bar feature from One UI 7 on Galaxy phones is coming to Samsung’s smartwatches, possibly with the upcoming One UI 8 Watch update. This discovery comes from a teardown of a leaked version of the SecClockWorkSysUI (version 4.0.57) APK, where we uncovered multiple strings and references to the Now Bar on Galaxy Watches.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
The Now Bar in One UI 7 is designed to surface glanceable, real-time information directly on your screen. According to strings found in the APK, Samsung is tailoring the feature for the smartwatch interface with various customization options.
Code strings suggest users will be able to choose between a minimal visual (just an icon) or a more comprehensive display that shows both the Now Bar icon and text when the screen is active. Once the feature is live, you can see what the placement of the Now Bar would look like on Galaxy Watches (image above). We extracted this image during our teardown.
One particularly notable string hints at gesture-based actions that will allow users to double-pinch to open the Now Bar on their Galaxy Watches and enable additional actions when the bar has no current content.
Code
<string name="icon_only">Icon only</string>
<string name="icon_with_text_while_screen_is_on">Icon with text while screen is on</string>
<string name="double_pinch_taps_on_">Double pinch to open the Now bar shown on your watch face.
Turn on Secondary action to move through notifications or tiles when your Now bar is empty.</string>
<string name="nowbar_tips">Check the information you need right now on your watch face.</string> <string name="sports_on_google">Sports on Google</string>Essentially, the Now Bar on Galaxy Watches will serve as a widget system, surfacing contextually relevant data without needing to navigate away from the watch face. We’ve uncovered that the Now Bar can show the following information on Samsung’s wearables:
- Contextual Suggestions
- Maps
- Media Controls
- Now Brief
- Tips on how to use the Now Bar
- Sports on Google for live sports scores
Samsung could also add more category options for the Now Bar on Galaxy Watches, including health metrics and exercise updates. The above are just a few examples we could find in the APK.
While this information comes from a pre-release APK and should be considered unofficial, it strongly indicates that One UI 8 Watch will bring a smarter, more glanceable interface to Galaxy Watches. It’s also entirely possible that Samsung will roll out the Now Bar to Galaxy Watches ahead of the One UI 8 Watch release. However, the software’s rumored upcoming beta and this leak suggest the feature will land with One UI 8 Watch.
