9 common problems and the best ways to fix them

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 has much to offer for the health-conscious and everyday user. If you’re into sleep tracking and want more health metrics to gain better insight into your health, the Galaxy Watch 7 does all that but better. Its Advanced BioActive Sensors and 480-by-480-pixel Super AMOLED display make this a powerful tracker without relying on your smartphone.

Even if the Galaxy Watch 7 intelligently measures every detail about your heart rate, sleep apnea, blood pressure, and ECG levels with AI, it doesn’t mean this premium smartwatch doesn’t have issues. Our guide highlights the common Galaxy Watch 7 problems and the best methods to solve them.

Problems you may encounter on the Galaxy Watch 7

The Galaxy Watch 7 shows improvements over the previous generation. New software and hardware can lead to several issues. These include:

• Samsung Health data doesn’t sync
• Fast battery drain
• Delayed notifications
• Problems charging
• Out-of-sync apps
• Unresponsive apps
• Problems with the touchscreen
• Galaxy 7 Watch won’t pair

Check if your Galaxy Watch 7 is up-to-date

A simple fix for software problems is to ensure that the latest Wear OS and One UI Watch update is installed on your Galaxy Watch 7. Software updates provide the latest security patches, performance optimizations, and bug fixes. Installing these can mitigate software problems and keep the system optimized and stable. You can check if your watch is up-to-date through the device’s software or the Galaxy Wearable app (mobile). To check from your Galaxy Watch 7, perform the following:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Watch software.
3. Check if there is new software to install. If yes, tap Install.

Pairing the Galaxy Watch 7 with your phone

If you have issues pairing the Galaxy Watch 7 with your phone, check that your phone is compatible. Samsung requires the phone to run Android 11 or later and the Samsung Health app to be on version 6.24 or later.

Use Power saving mode to prevent fast battery drain

Power saving mode is the best option for preserving the battery life of your Galaxy Watch 7. It also saves you from tweaking settings to maintain low-to-modest power consumption. When you turn on power saving mode, it lowers the screen’s brightness, turns off Always On Display (AOD), and restricts background use while limiting location services and deactivating services and features.

Though it comes with a trade, power-saving mode lowers your Galaxy Watch 7’s performance. You can always turn power saving mode on or off when the situation warrants the change. Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings > Battery.
2. Toggle on Power saving mode.

   

   

3. Alternatively, activate Power saving mode by accessing your quick panel (swipe down from the top of the screen).

Re-sync the Samsung Health app with your Galaxy Watch 7

If Samsung Health’s stat tracking isn’t working, it could be due to a syncing issue with the app and watch and your connected phone. We recommend re-syncing the app with your watch or phone before suspecting it’s an error with the sensor.

Check whether Airplane, Power saving, and Watch Only modes are not accidentally activated. Having these modes on can stop syncing and background processes from working. Otherwise, you can manually re-sync the Samsung Health app by going to the app’s settings.

1. Open the Samsung Health app on your phone.
2. Tap the overflow menu (the three-dot icon).
3. Select Settings.

   

   

4. Tap Sync with Samsung Cloud and toggle it on.
5. Tap Sync now.

   

   

Re-pair the Galaxy Watch 7 with your phone

Before resetting, back up your Galaxy Watch 7 via the Galaxy Wearable app.

1. Open Settings on your phone.
2. Tap Connections.
3. Tap Bluetooth.

   

   

4. Tap the Settings icon next to your watch’s name.
5. Tap Unpair.

On your Galaxy Watch 7:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Select Reset.
4. Tap Reset again.

To re-pair, launch the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone and find the Galaxy Watch 7 listed under your available devices.

Turn off your Galaxy Watch 7’s wrist detection

We recommend toggling off wrist detection to preserve battery life or prevent accidental activations. The Galaxy Watch 6 had overly sensitive wrist detection issues and may not work with tattooed wrists due to how optical sensing works. If you find wrist detection a problem, toggle it off. However, turning off wrist detection can deactivate other features and prevent other health tracking from working.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Security and Privacy.
3. Toggle off Wrist Detection.

Turn on notifications on your Galaxy Watch 7

Delayed notifications or notifications not showing up is a common issue, especially when modes interfere with notifications (turning them off) and other devices that share notifications when connected. Check your notification settings from the Galaxy Watch or the Galaxy Wearable app. Here’s how.

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Notifications.
3. Choose Show phone notifications on Watch.

   

   

4. Tap Show alerts even when phone in use.

Solving app issues by clearing the app’s cache and data

If you continue to have problems loading an app, your apps are slow, or experience crashes, clear the app’s cache and storage. Clearing the cache and storage removes temporary files and data. To clear the cache and storage, keep reading below.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Apps.

   

   

3. Select an app.
4. Tap Clear Cache and Clear Data.

You can also navigate to Settings > Device care > Memory and select Clean all.

Clearing the app storage removes all information tied to the app, including your login credentials and settings.

Manually turn on your Galaxy Watch 7’s sleep mode

If sleep detection fails, like when you wake up for a restroom break and the feature does not resume, manually turn on sleep mode using your quick panel.

1. Open your quick panel.
2. Tap Modes.
3. Select Sleep Mode.
4. Tap Turn it on.

Factory reset your Galaxy Watch 7

You may need to consider a factory reset if you cannot find a software fix to get your Galaxy Watch 7 working to its potential. Factory resetting can alleviate issues like malware or deeper problems with the system’s software. However, it wipes all data, so back up necessary data to the Samsung Cloud before proceeding.

On the Galaxy Watch 7:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Select Reset.

On the Galaxy Wearable app:

1. Open the Galaxy Wearable app and navigate to Watch settings.
2. Tap General > Reset.

   

   

3. Tap Reset (again) to confirm.

Fix your Galaxy Watch 7’s charging problem

If you run into problems charging the Galaxy Watch 7, this can be for two reasons. The first is that you’re using an old charger that doesn’t fit the placement of your new Galaxy Watch 7 (the back glass changed shape because of the new BioActive health sensor built into the watch). The only fix is to use the new charger that came with the watch. The second is because you’re trying to do reverse charging with your Galaxy Watch 7 onto a compatible phone. Due to the new wireless charging coil placement on the watch, reverse charging does not work.

Turn off the touch bezel on your Galaxy Watch 7

If navigating through your Galaxy Watch 7’s screen is too laggy, turn off the touch bezel. However, this removes access to shortcuts and settings. Otherwise, check that no dust or debris is found on the bezel, causing it to glitch or be too sensitive. To turn off the touch bezel on your Galaxy Watch 7, go to:

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Toggle off Touch bezel.

You can also turn this off in the Galaxy Wearable app.

Double-check your step counting

Your Galaxy Watch 7 and your phone can track your daily steps. Because of this, your steps could count twice, yielding inaccurate step numbers (this occurrence is rarer). Despite the incorrect numbers recorded, the Samsung Health app claims it doesn’t add extra steps to your watch. The only way to fix this is to turn off tracking from your watch or phone through the Samsung Health app or to recalibrate it.

If the steps are counted to one device (as they should), but the number of steps is inaccurate compared to what you’d expect to see, the issue might be the sensor. If the sensor is dirty, gently clean it and reboot the smartwatch. Otherwise, it could be counting steps if you’re wearing the watch in a setting where vibrations and motions are felt around you.

Get the most out of your Galaxy Watch 7

Some functions only work if you use a Galaxy AI-powered Samsung phone. Otherwise, you can’t get certain features to work, like blood pressure, ECG, and sleep apnea. You can still access the basic features if you own a non-Samsung phone. Otherwise, make the most of your Galaxy Watch 7 as a standalone device.