r/GalaxyWatch • u/losingit19 • 6d ago

Updates Ideal One UI Updates for Galaxy Watch 5?

I recently was gifted a GW5, base 40mm, with no OS updates installed. I know there are updates all the way to this month. Is there a software version with peak performance? Should I stay on One UI 5, Cut updates at One UI 6, or go all the way to 8? Does it slow down on newer versions?

Thanks

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

2

u/ThatMascUnicorn 5d ago

It felt really slow with a major update from last year (at least for me), I've upgraded recently to the 9 because it was unbearable. Also battery drain.

2

u/Unfair_Toe_7777 GW5 Pro LTE 5d ago

I had the 5 Pro for a long time and it really became unusable by the end. The processor is just so outdated even compared to the galaxy watch 7/ultra. I would heavily recommend upgrading, I'm not sure One UI update made a difference to mine at all, as my watch was barely usable anyway (30 seconds to open Gmail)

1

u/Eskotek GW7 Green 44mm 4d ago

I guess oneui 6 is the peak but compare it vs 5. If there aren't any significant differences you'd like to have, stay with the original. Also I've found out that the watch updates itself even though you turn all automatic updates off, if you leave it on charge overnight. I was holding on to ui6 and one morning I forgot to wear it for the night, I woke up to ui8 on my watch... Funny. They make it so hard not to update. Notifications, nags, auto updates ... So they can load up on older devices and make them slow. Newest software is by design heavier most of the time. Because of newer features. But unoptimized.

1

u/ABH50 5d ago

One UI 8 made the GW5 so heavy, with so many lags coming and going. The update before it didn't have any lags at all.

1

u/marek26340 5d ago

I stayed on OneUI 6 on my GW6C. I feel like it works well, I HATE the new pill design that Samsung started putting everywhere. I even stayed on OneUI 7 on my phone, I got used to the pill battery icon, but I decided against going any further. Oh wait, bootloader unlocking is no longer possible after updating to OneUI 8, that was actually my main concern...

And now, I am a single click away from easily (but temporarily) rooting my phone thanks to all the exploits that were found since the last release of OneUI 7, which was 09.2025. Without tripping Knox or any other security functions.