In the Galaxy Watch Ultra, Samsung has delivered arguably the best-ever smartwatch for Android – but getting the most out of it requires some deviation from the default experience.
That’s where this tips and tricks guide comes in.
Since it arrived in July, we’ve spent considerable time discovering optimal settings, hidden features, and ways to make the latest version of Wear OS sing.
Below, check out 7 things every Galaxy Watch Ultra owner should know – from adding GPX files to saying goodbye to Bixby.
1. Goodbye, Bixby – quick launch Google Assistant
A long press of the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s Home button will bring up the company’s smart assistant, Bixby. Unfortunately, Bixby is about as useful as a chocolate teapot – so you’ll want to employ the far superior Google Assistant in its place.
Google’s smart helper isn’t available by default, so you’ll need to download an update from the Play Store and then follow these steps to make it your go-to assistant.
- Go to the Google Play Store and scroll to ‘Manage Apps’.
- If the Google Assistant app is on the list, download the update.
- Next, jump to the Settings app and find ‘Buttons and gestures’.
- Scroll down to the ‘Home button’ section and change the ‘Press and hold’ option from Bixby to Google Assistant.
2. Slow down the quick-starting workouts
If you’ve been tracking your workouts on the Galaxy Watch Ultra, you’ll know that – by default – they immediately begin counting down as soon as you tap an exercise profile.
We found this pretty annoying during testing, as it often didn’t allow us to check whether the dual-frequency GNSS had actually locked on before the tracking began.
Thankfully, you can slow the process down and ensure your workouts don’t start until the GPS is connected by following these steps:
- Open the exercise profiles with a double-tap of the Quick Button (the orange one).
- When hovering over your chosen workout, tap ‘Settings’.
- Scroll down to the ‘Workout start’ setting and change it from ‘Countdown’ to ‘Manual’.
3. Unlock the hidden settings menu
Now we’re into the real juice – hidden settings.
As with every Wear OS smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch Ultra grants users the option of dipping into the developer settings and playing around with some UI elements.
For example, if you find the One UI 6 Watch skin sluggish, you can speed up menu animations to make things feel a bit more zippy. Or, you might want to have the watch face remain open during charging – or force full GNSS measurements.
Unlock the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s hidden settings by following these steps:
- Start in the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s settings app.
- Scroll down to ‘About watch’ and then ‘Software information’.
- On the ‘Software Version’ panel, tap several times in quick succession until you see a ‘developer mode turned on’ notification appears on the bottom of the display.
- Once that’s complete, return to the main list of settings – ‘Developer options’ should now be available underneath ‘About watch’.
- Select this option to view the hidden settings you can alter.
4. Turn off the siren
During testing, it completely passed us by that the Galaxy Watch Ultra had a siren safety feature… until we accidentally had the Quick Button pressed up against something and it began sounding.
We like that the feature exists, but we quickly began hunting down a way to turn it off once we realized there was no way to change how it’s launched.
To turn it off, then, follow the below steps:
- Head to the Settings app and find ‘Buttons and gestures’.
- Under the ‘Quick button’ section, find and disable the ‘Siren’ switch.
5. Turn on exercise power saving mode
Samsung made a big hullabaloo during the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s unveiling about the battery life you can garner from turning on the ‘Exercise power saving’ mode.
However, did you know this doesn’t actually kick in automatically when the battery is low?
We found this out the hard way during testing, with the Ultra’s power stores running dry during a long ride. It’s essential to perform this before starting a very long workout – or if you’re worried about the Ultra being unable to keep up for the full duration.
If we had the exercise power saving mode turned on, it would have reduced the sampling frequency of the heart rate and GPS (and turned off Bluetooth and LTE) to help squeeze out plenty more exercise time. You can do so, though, by following the below steps:
- Find the exercise profile you wish to track.
- When hovering over your chosen workout, tap ‘Settings’.
- Under the ‘All Workouts’ section, find the ‘Exercise power saving’ setting and turn it from off to on.
6. Import a GPX file for native route navigation
After a brief hiatus in the sixth-gen editions, the follow-along routes we first saw in the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro have returned for the Galaxy Watch Ultra.
However, like with most things Samsung-related, there’s some work involved to get them on your smartwatch – and the steps involved will naturally vary depending on where you get your GPX files from. We did ours with Komoot.
The steps below assume you already have some GPX routes downloaded onto your phone, but we’ll soon put together a full explainer for those who need the full guidance.
- Start by opening the list of exercises and find ‘Walking’.
- Under this profile, tap ‘Settings’ and scroll down to the ‘Route’ option.
- Here, there’ll be an option to ‘Add on phone’ – select it and your Android should automatically pop up with your list of downloads.
- Follow the steps on your phone and import your route to your Galaxy Watch Ultra.
- Now, repeat the steps above and choose your GPX import from the Route option – this will now automatically populate in the ‘Walking’ profile.
7. Customize your multisport flow
While something like the Apple Watch Ultra 2 has a bit more of an outdoorsy, diving watch spin toward its exercise profiles, Samsung has deliberately targeted triathletes and multisport athletes with its premium smartwatch.
However, you might have a specific multisport flow you want to seamlessly work through – not the specific aquathlon setup on the Tile by default.
To customize the multisport widget and profile to your taste, follow these steps:
- Swipe or scroll over to the Multisport widget.
- Instead of tapping the default profile, select the ‘Multisport’ banner at the top of the display.
- This will open up presets for the triathlon, duathlon, and aquathlon, but scrolling to the bottom will show an ‘Add’ option which you can use to customize your own flow.
- Add your order of indoor or outdoor profiles from the three core disciplines – running, swimming, and cycling – and include any specific targets you have for each.
- Once you’re done, hit save – and remember to press and hold the Quick Button to move to the next workout in your set.
