Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active will run Google Wear OS

Samsung will drop its own Tizen OS in favor of Google’s Wear OS for the upcoming Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active. Moving to the Google Platform will allow the new smartwatch access to a much wider ecosystem of third-party apps, giving users more options. While there have been rumors of the Watch 4 being on Wear OS, we now know that the Watch 4 Active will also use the Google OS.

With the Google I/O developer’s conference taking place next week, we expect to see more news on the Wear OS platform, including an announcement of new hardware. We already know that third-party developers will now be able to create custom tiles to display and have seen the new Gboard typing system brought to the OS.

Opening up the Galaxy Watch 4 / 4 Active to this new OS gives the watch lots of new potential. With Fitbit now Google-owned, enhanced sports features could aid the Watch 4 Active but it might also be the reason why one anticipated feature won’t be included in the Galaxy Watch 4.

• Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is official: here's everything new

According to the original report by 9to5 Google, the Galaxy Watch 4 had been expected to include a blood glucose sensor – something that is also expected to appear on next year’s Apple Watch – but it now looks like that won’t happen.

Glucose monitors are used by people with diabetes to monitor the glucose levels in their blood. This is normally done through a finger-prick blood test or more recently through continuous monitors that sit on the skin with a tiny cannular inserted. However, a new sensor, small enough to sit on the underside of a smart watch is able to measure glucose by beaming light through the skin.

With the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Active not expected to launch until August, we still have a while to wait until we see the final product. Chances are though, we will discover more before then.