Samsung phones and watches get major software upgrades: what’s new for the Galaxy S22 and One UI 8 Watch

Samsung is wrapping up the year by sending out important new software to many of its popular devices, including a critical security update for its phones and a huge feature upgrade for its smartwatches. Users of older flagship devices and current wearables are now seeing these changes arrive, bringing better protection and new health tools.

Starting with smartphones, the trusty Galaxy S22 series—which includes the standard Galaxy S22, the Plus model, and the Ultra—is currently receiving the latest December 2025 security patch. The rollout began in India and is meant to make the device more secure by fixing 68 different kinds of security issues found in both the Android operating system and Samsung’s own One UI software.

While the update doesn’t add flashy new features, its main purpose is to make the phone’s system more stable and generally smoother to use. For those who own one of these phones, the December patch is important because the S22 family is currently running on One UI 8, which is based on Android 16.

Samsung has confirmed that the S22 will also get the upcoming One UI 8.5 update, but that is expected to be the last major upgrade for these devices, as their promised four years of software support will end around the time the Galaxy S26 is released.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s wearable lineup is getting a much larger feature jump with the official release of the One UI 8 Watch update, which is built on Wear OS 6. This update is designed to bring many powerful new features, especially for health and exercise tracking, to compatible older smartwatches.

Key additions include a smart Running Coach to guide your workouts, new measurements like Vascular Load and Antioxidant Index to help you stay healthy, and a “Now Bar” that gives you fast access to whatever you are currently doing on your watch.

It also introduces “Multi-Info Tiles,” which are customizable little screens that let you see helpful information, like the weather or your schedule, all in one easy view. Plus, system changes at the core level mean better battery life for your device.

This One UI 8 Watch software has been rolling out steadily across many models. The new software is already stable on the first-generation Galaxy Watch Ultra, the Watch 7, and the Watch 6 series. For the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro, the stable version is currently expanding to more users.

In big news for owners of Samsung’s earliest Wear OS devices, the official One UI 8 Watch update recently began its release for the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic in South Korea on December 15. This is likely the final major upgrade for these specific models.

If you want to check if the new software is ready for your phone or watch, you can manually look for it. For your Galaxy S22 phone, simply open your Settings app, go to Software update, and then tap Download and install.

For your Galaxy smartwatch, you need to use the connected smartphone: open the Galaxy Wearable app, go to Watch settings, and select Watch software update to begin the download.