Skip to main content

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 update focuses on holistic wellness

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 fans are getting a treat this week, with a new update that adds enhanced health and wellness features aimed at helping folks stay fit and reach all their goals.

This includes advanced interval training features for building custom workouts, a new sleep coaching program, and new insights for a better understanding of body composition.

Four Samsung Galaxy Watch4 smartwatches stacked on top of each other.

For the body composition insights, Samsung Health has partnered with Centr, a digital fitness program curated by Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth. Centr offers a well-rounded approach to a healthier lifestyle, including everything from workouts and guided meditations to meal plans and lifestyle tips. All Galaxy Watch4 owners will receive a complimentary trial for full and unrestricted access to Centr for 30 days.

Those who prefer to work out on their own instead will appreciate Samsung’s new interval target feature, which lets runners and cyclists have preset parameters for custom workouts, including duration, distance, and number of sets. The Galaxy Watch 4 will then use those preferences to guide wearers through a custom session that combines an ideal balance of high-intensity and low-intensity workouts to meet those goals.

Get a good night’s sleep

Samsung is also taking the Galaxy Watch 4 beyond mere sleep tracking with the addition of a new sleep coaching program that will help people actually apply the sleep-tracking capabilities in practical ways.

After seven days of sleep tracking, the program will identify the wearer’s sleep type and guide them through a four- to five-week coaching program to help them get a better night’s sleep. Users must also fill out two sleep surveys.

To make the experience more fun and whimsical, Samsung will use one of eight sleep symbol animals to represent the person’s sleep type, from an “Unconcerned Lion” or “Sensitive Hedgehog” to a “Sun Averse Mole” or “Exhausted Shark.”

Samsung Galaxy Watch4 new sleep tracking animal symbols.
Samsung

As an added bonus, the Galaxy Watch4 will now be able to recognize when you fall asleep so that it can automatically switch off Samsung SmartThings-enabled lights around your home.

Samsung is releasing the software update with all these new features to coincide with its Unpacked event on February 9. When it arrives, the update will be available through the Galaxy Wearable app on the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic.

New straps and watch faces

Galaxy Watch 4 owners will also be able to enjoy a wealth of new customization options to make the wearable their own. New straps will be available in burgundy and cream colors, along with new fabric band and link bracelet styles.

Six Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 devices showing new sport band, fabric band, and link bracelet options.
Samsung

More colors and fonts are also coming to personalize the watch face, coordinated to match the colors and styles of the new bands. The new watch straps will be available later this month.

What’s coming next

Although it’s not arriving in this week’s update, Samsung has announced that it plans to continue bringing the Galaxy Watch 4 into even tighter harmony with the Android ecosystem.

To this end, an additional update is coming soon that will allow streaming YouTube Music directly to the Watch4 over Wi-Fi or LTE. Samsung is also bringing Google Assistant to the Watch 4 in the coming months, offering an alternative to its Bixby voice assistant.

Editors' Recommendations

Jesse Hollington
Jesse has been a technology enthusiast for his entire life — he probably would have been born with an iPhone in his hand…
Samsung messed up the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s most important feature
Two Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 phones next to each other.

Samsung just held its latest Galaxy Unpacked July 2023 event in Seoul, Korea, and it was packed with a ton of new upcoming products. We have the next generation of foldables with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, as well as the Galaxy Watch 6 series and Galaxy Tab S9 lineup.

But let’s take a closer look at the Galaxy Z Flip 5, which is hot on the heels of the latest Motorola Razr Plus. Both flip phones are pretty similar with that larger cover display, but unfortunately, this is where Samsung really fumbled the ball.

Read more
Does the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 have a headphone jack?
Timer running on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 cover screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has been revealed, and it's flippin' marvelous. So far, it's largely just Samsung that has defined the nascent flip smartphone market, and while flipping and folding phones haven't quite broken into the mainstream yet, the Z Flip 5 is sure to tempt more and more people into buying into the future of smartphone design. The biggest new addition to the Z Flip 5 is the much larger outer screen, which is a big upgrade over the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4's much smaller display and worthy of rivaling the Motorola Razr Plus's impressively large outer display.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is sure to be a technological marvel, packed with the latest and most powerful hardware Samsung can get its hands on. But what about a piece of very old tech? What about the humble 3.5mm headphone jack? Does Samsung's latest flip phone have room for a headphone jack, or does the Z Flip 5 follow the same trend of the last few years in omitting the venerable port?

Read more
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: two things I hate (and two I love)
Main display on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.

Samsung is in its fifth generation of selling foldables. While the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is its biggest upgrade to the clamshell form factor, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is an experiential upgrade this year – which might cause some problems for Samsung.

The year is 2023, and more smartphone manufacturers are joining the foldable bandwagon. With the Google Pixel Fold and the upcoming OnePlus folding phone, Samsung finally has some competition in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 doesn’t seem like a device that I would instantly buy over others.

Read more