Samsung Pulls the Plug on Tizen Smartwatches After 11 Years
Samsung will soon end the support for Tizen smartwatches. Eleven years after the first Galaxy Gear, the support of the in-house wearable operating system is finally over. Owners of affected devices should prepare.
The end of an era
With the Galaxy Watch 8 series, Samsung has just presented its very latest smartwatches. The clocks run, like a number of predecessor generations, with Wear OS. But before the Koreans used the system developed together with Google, Tizen OS used a very own wearable operating system. Like Samsung last year had communicated however, the company ended on September 30, 2025 for all Tizen-based smartwatches in the Galaxy Store. This ends an era that started on September 4, 2013 with the presentation of the Galaxy Gear. For over eleven years, the South Korean company rely on its in -house operating system for wearables. Now is finally over.
Affected models and consequences
The affected models include an impressive range of eleven smartwatch generations that Samsung equipped with the in-house operating system between 2013 and 2020. Owners of all subsequent devices must now be prepared for strong restrictions:
- Galaxy Gear
- Gear 2
- Gear live
- Gear S
- Gear S2
- Gear S3
- Gear Sport
- Galaxy Watch
- Galaxy Watch Active
- Galaxy Watch Active 2
- Galaxy Watch 3
The watches continue to work, but lose functionality. As Samsung reports, users can no longer download apps after the cut -off date if they have been deleted from the devices. This applies to both free and purchased apps.
From the pioneering time to the change of strategy
The Galaxy Gear was originally equipped with Android, but switched to Tizen OS in May 2014. The smartwatch with the 41.4 millimeter-sized display enabled calls, scheduling and weather queries by language. This was revolutionary for the situation at that time, even if the battery life of just one day was criticized. The development was rapid. The Gear S2 from 2015 already introduced the circular design and the iconic rotating bezel, which is still a trademark of the Galaxy Watch Classic series today.
With the Gear S3 from 2016, Samsung established many features that are standard today. These include, for example, the waterproof construction, GPS and NFC payments. Tizen OS itself was created in 2012 from a cooperation between Samsung and Intel as an alternative to Android and iOS. The Linux-based system should provide Samsung more independence from Google and, in addition to smartwatches, was also used in smart TVs, cameras and even smartphones.
Planned obsolescence
The exit is not surprising. Samsung announced the end in May 2024. The group initially hired the sale of paid content in September 2024, followed by free downloads in March 2025. As an incentive for a change, Samsung offers increased prices when the time has been in-depoted on old Tizen devices when buying a new Galaxy Watch. The gradual withdrawal reflects a pragmatic business decision.
The development and maintenance of parallel operating systems bind resources that Samsung prefers to invest in the Wear-OS partnership with Google. As early as May 2021, Samsung announced during Google I/O to integrate Tizen features into Google’s Wear OS and publish future wearables with Wear OS.
Tizen lives on – just not on smartwatches
Samsung follows a selective approach. Because Tizen is still used for smart TVs where the system is successful. According to Strategy Analytics, around 21 percent of all sold smart TVs ran with Tizen in 2018. Around 200 million people in 197 countries are currently using Samsung Smart TVs with this operating system.
The company had only released Tizen 9.0 on older smart TVs in July. For users of old Tizen Watches, an upgrade is probably inevitable if you want to continue to use usual smartwatch features. The current Galaxy Watch models with Wear OS offer significantly more apps and better integration with Android smartphones. The investment in a new device also offers advantages.
