Summary
- Samsung is developing a battery protection feature for its Galaxy Watches to optimize battery health.
- This feature will supposedly stop charging at a certain percentage to preserve battery lifespan.
- Google is also planning to bring Adaptive Charging to the Pixel Watch lineup.
The best Android phones now offer a battery optimization feature that lets you cap charging at 80% or less, helping extend your battery’s long-term health. Google officially introduced this feature as part of Android 15 last year. Now, Samsung is seemingly preparing to bring a similar feature to its Wear OS-powered Galaxy Watches with the upcoming One UI Watch 8.
Android Authority found strings of code in an early One UI Watch 8 firmware referring to a battery protection feature for smartwatches. The feature will “Stop charging when the battery level reaches %d%% and start charging again when it drops down to %d%%.”
If the battery optimization feature on smartphones is anything to go by, Samsung will likely allow users to limit their Galaxy Watch’s charge to 80% or lower for best results.
Apple offers an Optimized Charging feature on the Apple Watch. However, the company does not allow you to set a hard limit on the maximum charge. Instead, the watch regulates the charging speed based on your usage and charging pattern, keeping the battery around 80% and only topping it off shortly before you usually wear it. This helps extend the battery’s lifespan and reduces unwanted wear and tear.
Admittedly, if you are always on the move, you may not find the charging optimization feature useful. But if you typically put your Galaxy Watch on charge for a long time, this would help preserve the battery health.
Pixel Watch may also gain a similar feature later this year
No Android smartwatch currently includes an option to limit the battery’s charge level, including Google’s own Pixel Watch lineup. However, a report from earlier this year indicates that Google may bring Adaptive Charging to its smartwatch. The company may introduce this feature as part of Wear OS 6 itself. If so, the charging optimization feature could eventually roll out to other Wear OS smartwatches as well.
Samsung will not release a One UI 7 Watch update for its Galaxy Watches; instead, it will directly update them to One UI 8 Watch. Given that the company will jump one whole version number, it may introduce several significant changes with its next Wear OS skin to justify the leap.
