Samsung Galaxy Watch owners just got a useful free Tizen upgrade

Thanks to a new software update, Samsung has stuck to its word and isn’t ignoring owners of its older, Tizen-powered smartwatches.

The update is for the Galaxy Watch 3 from 2020 and includes a couple of new watch faces, called Pro analog and Gradient, which were first seen last month on the new, Wear OS-powered Galaxy Watch 5.

Watch 3 owners are also being treated to a new snore detection feature, which comes to the older wearable for the first time. However, unlike the Watch 5’s snore detection function, which uses the watch’s own microphone to detect heavy nighttime breathing, the Watch 3 relies on the microphone of a nearby, Bluetooth-connected smartphone.

The update also improves how the Daily Activity Indicator synchronises data between the Galaxy Watch 3 and the smartphone it’s connected to. Samsung is vague on exactly what it has changed here, but says the update will “improve convenience”.

This software update carries the build number of R840XXU1DVH4 and is available now. These updates usually roll out quickly across regions, and since this one arrived a few days ago, it’s likely that your Galaxy Watch 3 will be ready to upgrade itself, or may even have already done so.

We’re glad to see this update. It’s only a small change, but shows that Samsung is committed to bringing new features to its older models of smartwatch, and even to those that run the Tizen operating system, not Google’s Wear OS, as preferred by the new Watch 5.