Samsung may tailor Now Bar to work on the Galaxy Watch's interface, with several customisation options on offer.
Now Bar and Now Brief were introduced with the Galaxy S25 series running on One UI 7
Photo Credit: Samsung
The One UI 8 Watch build was leaked earlier this week and it keeps on delivering details about the features that Samsung is developing but are currently kept under wraps. According to a report, the company might be planning to bring two new features to the Galaxy Watch that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Now Bar and Now Brief, which were introduced with One UI 7 on the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, could make their way to the South Korean tech giant's smartwatches, enabling users to a personalised briefing containing a wide range of information and insights.
Teaming up with AssembleDebug, Android Authority reports that evidence of the Now Bar feature was discovered following the APK teardown of the SecClockWorkSysUI system app version 4.0.57, part of the One UI 8 Watch app suite. Multiple code strings and references are said to have been uncovered which suggest that the feature might be tailored to work on the Samsung Galaxy Watch's interface along with several customisation options.
Notably, Now Bar is a lock screen quick view of insights powered by the Galaxy AI suite. It is a rectangular bar featuring multiple cards which appear near the bottom of the phone's lock screen that can be vertically scrolled with a card deck-like animation.
It is reported to function via gesture actions. A double pinch may open the Now Bar feature on the watch face while users may also be able to set up a secondary action to move through notifications or tiles when the Now Bar is empty. It is speculated to essentially function as a widget, displaying information without having to move away from the watch face.
The publication adds that Now Bar on the Samsung Galaxy Watch might be able to show information such as contextual suggestions, navigation via maps, media controls, live sports scores, and tips on how to use the feature. Additionally, it is also reported to bring the Now Brief feature, which is also powered by Galaxy AI. It provides a comprehensive view of the user's device usage and daily activities. Some of the insights users can see in Now Brief include weather forecasts, energy scores, recommendations for music and navigation, and more.
However, it isn't just limited to the aforementioned options. As per the report, Samsung could add several other categories, such as health metrics and exercise updates, to One UI 8 Watch's Now Bar too.
This leak builds upon previous reports which revealed that the Galaxy Watch, in addition to other WearOS-powered smartwatches, could benefit from Gemini actions. Meanwhile, the South Korean tech giant may also bring an Antioxidant feature to the Galaxy Watch 8 and even previous models.
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