Samsung Gear Users Report Connectivity Issues With Android 9 Pie, Fix Coming Soon

Google's Android 9 Pie mobile operating system saw its final release rolling out to the Pixel range of handsets earlier this week. Having been in beta since March this year, Android P has finally been released in its stable avatar, however one that is not completely devoid of issues. In the most recent development, Samsung Gear smartwatch, fitness band, and headset users are reporting problems in connectivity with Android Pie smartphones. As per user reports, handsets running Android Pie are experiencing connectivity issues with Gear S smartwatches, Gear Fit2, Gear IconX, and Gear IconX (2018). While a temporary and unofficial workaround has been revealed, users are advised not to update their phones to Android Pie before an official fix is released.

A post on XDA Developers' forums from May 2018 suggests that the connectivity issue with Samsung's Gear range of devices has been known ever since the first couple of betas, with no acknowledgement from Samsung up until now when the South Korean giant is proactively replying to queries on Google Play. According to the post on XDA, Samsung has allegedly used a private API for Gear devices that seems to have deprecated when Android P was first released. This resulted in app crashes every time users tried to connect Android P-powered handsets with one of the Gear smart accessories.

Modded APKs appear to be the fix currently, with comments on the post claiming that the issues were resolved with the help of these APK files. The forum poster has also included the my.keystore file to enable users to fix the issue on their respective Gear device.

Users have also taken to Reddit to report connectivity issues. "I actually had no problem pairing and using my Gear S3 with my Pixel until I upgraded to the official Android Pie yesterday when it was pushed out to T-mobile," said the original poster of the thread that now has over 100 comments of similar accounts. Some users, to Samsung's credit, however, report that their Gear devices are working fine when connected to Android P.