One UI 8 Watch beta will be available in these countries

Today, Samsung broke the silence regarding the next big firmware update for Galaxy Watches. Short of a precise release date, the company revealed quite a lot about One UI 8 Watch and the upcoming beta program.

As expected, Samsung will precede the public release of One UI 8 Watch with a beta testing period designed to collect user feedback and improve the firmware before it goes live globally. And as usual, the beta program has a limited reach and won't be available globally. Far from it.

First, you should be aware that the One UI 8 Watch beta program will be open to a handful, but not all, Wear OS Galaxy Watches. You can probably guess which models will be excluded. Hint: The oldest Wear OS models.

Second, regarding the beta program's availability by region, it's much of the same as it's been every year. One UI 8 Watch will be available for beta testing in two countries: South Korea and the USA.

Samsung said the One UI 8 Watch beta program will go live starting this month. So, if you have a Galaxy Watch 5 or later model and live in the USA or Korea, you will be able to take the latest features for a test drive soon. New features include:

Once the One UI 8 Watch beta program goes live, Galaxy Watch users in eligible countries, i.e., South Korea and the USA, will be able to apply to join beta testing through the Samsung Members app on their phones.

As to when the beta program ends and the public rollout begins, that's everyone's guess. However, One UI 8 Watch should debut with the Galaxy Watch 8 series before the beta program for older Galaxy Watches concludes.

Samsung is expected to reveal the Galaxy Watch 8 lineup at Unpacked next month. The company has already announced sponsored runs in New York City, which will likely mark the event.

The upcoming smartwatch lineup should consist of a redesigned base model with a squircle shape and a new Classic variant that borrows some design cues from the Galaxy Watch Ultra. Samsung may also re-release a slightly updated version of the Ultra itself.