Samsung Gear App Gets New Name and Support for Android P, But it’s Still Broken

Samsung Gear

Ever since Google started rolling out Android 9.0 Pie to its Pixel devices, a number of Samsung Gear users have been complaining about the lack of compatibility with the latest version of Android. We also mentioned the issue in our review of the Gear IconX (2018) and Samsung seems to have listened. The company has now released an update for the app which brings support for Android P, but things still look a bit bleak.

According to the official Play Store listing, which now has the new Galaxy Wearable name, the latest update brings support for devices running Android P. We put the updated app to the test, installing it on our OnePlus 6 running Android P beta and we were able to connect our Gear IconX (2018) without any issues.

We also tried out the process with the older version of the app and the connection didn’t work, with the app displaying a notification that read : “Can’t communicate with Gear IconX (40ED)”.

Samsung gear

While it might seem like Samsung has nailed the issue once and for all, going through the reviews section on the Play Store suggests otherwise.

A large number of users running the updated app on Android P are complaining about new issues introduced by the latest update, leaving behind one or two stars in the process. A number of users have mentioned that the latest update breaks Samsung Pay and a few have even revealed that the updated app removes all previous data collected using their connected device.

Samsung gear

A few users have also claimed that the updated app reset their connected smart watches, which have been stuck in a boot loop since the update. Samsung is maintaining a standard response to all these complains, saying:

“We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Updated version which will work normally on P OS is now released. Please update Galaxy Wearable (Samsung Gear) app to the latest version.”

Alas, not a whole lot seems to be working normally with the updated Galaxy Wearable app and the company is being rightly criticized for its slow update release, which unfortunately seems to be broken.

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