Unable to back up Galaxy watches manually on One UI 5, backs up via Smart Switch

[Robin621k]

Why in the world would you take away the ability to back up our watches manually in the Wearable app? Make it make sense, I have to wait for what is now "PERIODICALLY" to back up my watch, how often is periodically? If you switch to store backups to Samsung Cloud, how does that work, when does that happen?

If anyone knows the answer please let me know!

[Dman3841]

Yeah they really do, as of Oct 2023 the galaxy watch 6 classic won't back up at all, not even when paired to a galaxy phone. 

[mrnoproblem]

Good Afternoon, 

I have a galaxy fold 5 phone and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic and when I go into the wearable app and look for back ups, there are no back ups listed.  I have reset the watch and reconnected the watch to the phone and it still does not show any back ups after 24 hours.  How do I get the watch to back up with the phone?

[BombBiologist]

You have to have Smart Switch installed and fully updated. Go into the app and make sure you've accepted all agreements. Then in the Wearable app click the backup part. It may take you to the Smart Switch app. If it doesn't then it's already set up. Between 1-5am your watch must be connected to your phone and your phone must be connected to a Wi-Fi network. Both devices have to have some charge. I don't remember the specifics but something like 30% battery. Then both devices must have their screens off. If all these conditions are met it will automatically back up between 1-5am.

[Ellin]

really, thats insane, i dont leave my phone on during the night, where did you learn this? i have smart switch set up but i keep getting a message that my watch hasnt been backed up in seven days!

[BombBiologist]

Yeah it's super obnoxious. I found it in some Samsung documentation (don't remember exactly where since it's been a couple months) and then Googled a bunch because I thought that must be incorrect and found the same info provided by Samsung support multiple times. Though the specific times weren't provided, they just said "at night". I asked other people what times theirs had backed up because I never use Wi-Fi and hate having it on so I needed to know when to have it turned on. That's how I came up with the 1-5am range.

[Members_OXSCsEv]

backups never worked anyway.... every time i do a backup then a software update... it always gives some reason why the backup cant be used with this version on watch os.. im about to switch to  a different brand of watch

[zaxdad123]

Greetings.

I bought a new Watch 5 Pro a few days ago to replace my Watch 4. I'm getting this error message whenever I take the watch off the charger in the morning.  Couldn't back up data. Try running Smart Switch again to transfer data to your new phone.  I've been using an S23 ultra since June. See pic. The second pic is from the Wear app that shows the watch is not backing up. The one backup says that it will only work with phones using UI4.5 or earlier. The 5 Pro has UI5 on it. Any suggestions? Samsung said reset the watch but I'm looking for other alternatives since I'll lose all my watch faces with a reset.

Thanks for any input.

[userpMgFwKaOxb]

I'd update your Watch4 to 1UI5 Watch and then upload to the cloud and then download to your new Watch5. It should only take a few hours and it worked great for me when going from Watch3 to a 1UI5 Watch4.

[zaxdad123]

Thanks. The problem is , I already sent my watch 4 in for the trade-in.

[IRStaten]

My watch 5 has some bugs, I just did a factory reset and everything went back to normal. The watch faces are linked to your Samsung account. When the watch is rebooted everything should sync back to normal.

Edit: I had the same problem when I first bought watch 5.