How do I stop my watch 7/8 from returning to the home screen every 10 seconds when using the timer app?

[sin07]

I absolutely hate the new UI.  It's horrendously ugly, icons are even smaller  with text on the top which is unnecessary, the notifications are ten times worse, and a ton of other issues.  BUT MY MAIN ISSUE IS THAT WHEN I USE THE TIMER APP ON MY WATCH, IT REVERTS BACK TO THE WATCH FACE EVERY TIME I AM NOT DIRECTLY LOOKING AT IT.  I DON'T WANT IT TO GO BACK TO THE WATCH FACE, I JUST WANT TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE TIMER AS IT COUNTS DOWN INSTEAD OF HAVING TO SELECT THE SMALL ICON ON THE WATCH FACE.  THIS IS INFURIATING.  WHY WOULD I WANT THE APP I AM USING TO CONSTANTLY GO BACK TO THE WATCH FACE WHEN I AM USING IT?!?1!?!?!  I'D BREAK MY PHONE WITH A HAMMER IF IT DID THE SAME THING. NOW, I HAVE TO USE THE DUMB KNOCK FUNCTION OR THE DOUBLE BUTTON PRESS TO GET BACK TO IT AND EVEN THEN IT OFTEN GOES TO A DIFFERENT TIMER SCREEN.  I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH HOW MUCH I HATE THIS NEW UPDATE.    

[nullandvoid]

It appears that the intent was to be consistent with OneUI8.0 between the watch and the phone.  The watch now has the Now Bar and, like the phone, the timer appears on the Now Bar.  You can change the settings for the Now Bar on the watch, by going to the watch settings on the watch, selecting advanced features and scrolling to Now bar style.  Select the timer (and any other app you want), choose icon with text.  It will not bring you back to the always on timer screen, but will show your countdown in the now bar when you come back from your screen timeout.

I agree, it's a stupid move. I also prefer to see the full screen on, but I have at times found it annoying when the timer was running and wanted to switch to another app on my watch.  This makes it easier to switch apps and still see the timer.

[Djingo]

Well, the timer was one of the biggest reasons I got a watch, to have control over time over some situations.

I set a timer and it stays on all the time so I can quickly glance at the watch to see how much time is left, like cooking, presentations, laundry, working out, breaks...

With the new UI, the timer goes away after some seconds, down to the Now Bar. Now if I want to check the time left I need to move my wrist, wait for the watch to pop up the now bar small window with the time left, and even though this saves battery, it's like something taking away my car and telling me to take a bike to save gasoline.

Is there a way to have that function back on, or even downgrade to version 7.0, or maybe someone knows of an app where I can set the time on the watch and have it always on?

That app was perfect before.

[nullandvoid]

You can change the settings for the Now Bar on the watch, by going to the watch settings on the watch, selecting advanced features and scrolling to Now bar style.  Select the timer (and any other app you want), choose icon with text.  It will not bring you back to the always on timer screen, but will show your countdown in the now bar when you come back from your screen timeout.

[Djingo]

Thank you.

I've also tried that. It makes it less bad, but I still have to shake my wrist and wait a second for the watch to fully wake up to get the small timer in the now bar.

It's not as convenient as being able to glance at it at any time and seeing right away how much time is left. It's a very useful feature in many cases.

[nullandvoid]

I agree that the screen on when the timer is on is a convenient feature in most cases - made it a bit of a problem when wanting to use other watch functions when it was running.  I do not think there was any reason to change it.

You can increase the screen time out on the watch to as long as 1 minute - any longer than that and it will use more battery time.  I use touch screen to wake, as it's more convenient and immediate to wake that way for me and I don't need my watch waking up every time I move my arm.  Using tap to wake, the wake up is immediate, so the Now bar shows right away.

[Djingo]

Thanks for the tip.

I'll see if I can come across an app that does what the previous one did before, while hoping they come with a solution to be able to revert that change 😉

[2LoKi4U]

I am losing my mind with these changes with ui8 - i am usually the guy who is the first on board and supports the updates - i accept changes to how i do things - BUT this is totally different.

I use the stopwatch and timer features on the watch daily - constantly actually - the requirement to be looking at the watch and not move your wrist to stop it from switching back to the watch face home screen is INFURIATING  - this NEEDS to be an adjustable setting - allowing it if you want it or NOT - it makes timing things and using countdowns PAINFULLY frustrating and actually impacts the function.

Worse is that anytime a countdown timer goes off - there's no way to silence it without dismissing it and god forbid you move your wrist - it is automatically dismissed. (and yes, I have the shake wrist to dismiss - DISABLED) 

The other thing is the **bleep** Cardiogram thing - this thing is CONSTANTLY killing my watch battery - i can't even get a full day out of watch anymore. I bought the Ultra 7 on release mainly for the battery life and slimmer profile than my 5 pro which was too thick and bothered my wrist when i was sleeping. 

Now it's gotten even worse - the "now" bar function gets stuck on Cardiogram - showing me it's running for 20hrs+ despite that when i click it it shows I "finished" the event - whatever it was - and it won't go away.

I've tried to disable it - stop it from tracking anything - all to no avail. 

This is the absolute WORST "upgrade" in UI they have EVER RELEASED. and I have NEVER complained about a single one until now. 

Anyone know how to disable this?

i've gone so far (after snapping these screenshots) as to disable all tracking of "passive heart rate monitoring" as well as sleep and stress.

Please @Samsung  FIX WHAT YOU BROKE!!!! I don't want to buy another smart watch from a different eco-system - but this is UNUSABLELY BAD