I bought the Watch 4 in 2021 and periodically, after many updates the last 2 1/2 hrs, have had nothing but problems.
The first 2 updates deleted all my music from the phone. I spent hours reinstalling the music I wanted on the watch. Many users complained about this, not just me.
Subsequent updates caused power to drain very quickly. This took Samsung weeks to fix with updates.
Other issues included the WiFi button turning off repeatedly by itself, despite me manually turning it on each time. This was rectified with the current update.
For Samsung Apps, I had Auto Update to the On position and the watch has never updated automatically (ever since I have owned the watch).
For Google Apps, I have to go to the Google Playstore on the watch and manually update the apps, even though, these are configured to update automatically.
So, I have had to always go to settings to manually update Samsung Apps and go to the Google Playstore App to manually update Google Apps. There is no setting to place the Google Playstore in the Samsung Settings. How wierd for a user to first go to 2 different areas on the phone to update Apps and then both Auto Updates don't work for either Samsung Apps or Google Apps.
When I would have the Google Assistant and Google Messages as the default Apps, after a major update to the watch, the Samsung Bixby and Samsung Keyboard would automatically become the default apps. I would have to reconfigure this to revert to Google.
The latest update problems include no manual backup (I always turn my phone and watch off at night - are we as customers supposed to now have "Big Brother" tell us when and how to update our devices with no manual control?).
Also, incredible power drain at times. Sometimes the watch drains 30 % after an initial startup and at other times my phone is 100 % charged.
Even though I have Samsung Health notifications set to Off, I will get a notification from the Health App stating, "Good Job Today on Your Workout and for Meeting your Goals".
At times I will not receive What's App message notifications (despite being on my home WiFi or having excellent Mobile Data).
If I am on my bike or working out and get a What'sApp call, I am unable to cancel the call by tapping the X button. Even after tapping this a few times, I cannot cancel the call.
Lastly, when making a payment, I now have to put in my 4-digit code. If I already started my phone with a 4 digit code, why would I need to put in a code each time I make a purchase? I can understand if I removed my watch during the day. But to have put the code in at start-up and then to put in a code for each subsequent payment makes no sense to me!
In summary, the latest update is horrible as one cannot manually backup the watch, there is inconsistent battery drainage, repeated annoying pop-ups, one cannot automatically update the Samsung Apps or Google Apps, and at times, after system updates, Samsung Apps override the default Google Apps. Furthermore, there is inconsistency in receiving WhatsApp messages and one cannot decline an incoming What's App Call by tapping the X button. Putting in your 4-digit code at payment when the user already put in their code at start-up makes no logical sense. Trying to research and fix these glitches are time consuming for a user.
The biggest flaw between Samsung and Google is that these companies don't talk to each other to make a watch that is seamless for the user.
After each update, there are always problems. A user wants a watch with a seamless experience that is non-problematic, user friendly, and easy/fun to use.
This partnership between Google and Samsung for the Watch 4 has none of these positive attributes and in reality the opposite!
I will never buy a Samsung Watch ever again! It's no wonder Apple is blowing away Google and Samsung with their products. Research shows that the Apple Watch will put Samsung and Google out of business in 6 years as customers switch to Apple, many for the reasons mentioned above. The partnership between Google and Samsung was supposed to decrease users from switching from Android to Apple. Now, I can see why users are leaving Android!
Without listening to your customers, both of you will lose to Apple. I don't like the Apple UI, and thus I prefer Android. But, if Samsung and Google don't get their act together, they will eventually lose out to Apple, including myself who has no time to look for fixes for the above problems!
It would make sense for the Google and Samsung engineers to work together and to test their updates for weeks prior to pushing these out to users! The "left brain must communicate with the right brain"!
PS: Samsung is also a data miner for its users. Most people who use Samsung have no idea about their "Customization Service" used to push Ads and collect data and many of their Privacy Options are buried deep into OS. Only by doing a thorough search on the Internet and applying corrective strategies can a user turn off some of these "Privacy Violations"!
Update Software: Ensure that both your phone and the watch have the latest software updates. Sometimes, issues can be resolved with newer firmware versions.
Factory Reset: While it's not an ideal solution, performing a factory reset on your watch could potentially resolve some persistent issues. Just be sure to back up your data before doing so.
