This may come as a surprise to some people, but… you can’t use your original Samsung Galaxy Gear forever. I know, I know, it seems like just yesterday Samsung was releasing their goofy smartwatch-with-a-camera in 2013, but all good things must come to an end.
According to the Samsung Members app, some of Samsung’s older smartwatches and fitness trackers will stop working with newer phones.
Samsung cuts off smartwatch support
I don’t actually think this is going to affect too many people, but it’s about time for some culling of Samsung’s smartwatch compatibility. This notification specifically mentions the original Galaxy Gear that really did release in 2013, along with the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, Gear S, and original Gear Fit. Anything newer, like the Gear Fit 2 or Gear S2 will be fine.
Additionally, this change only affects newer phones. If you’re somehow rocking a Galaxy S20 and original Gear Fit, you can absolutely keep using that combination for the time being. If you upgrade to the Galaxy S30 or whatever’s coming next, your smartwatch will no longer connect to the new phone. There’s very likely some technical limitations between the Bluetooth radios that Samsung wants to use and the much older hardware in their original crop of smartwatches, and no amount of app updates can fix that.
If you’re going to be affected, though, you might want to go ahead and scoop up a new watch while everything’s on sale for the holidays.
via: Android Authority
