A common denominator across all consumer technology is battery degradation. Over time, a rechargeable battery gradually loses its ability to store and deliver energy, reducing its lifespan. We’ve already seen smartphones get a charge in Android 15, and this development appears to be extending to wearables like the Galaxy Watch, based on evidence from Samsung’s work on One UI Watch 8.
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A line of code has been spotted in One UI Watch 8 (note that Samsung seems to be skipping One UI Watch 7), which suggests that Samsung may be adding a battery protection feature to the next version of One UI Watch. With battery protection, the charging of a Galaxy Watch will be limited to a certain percentage.
This would be similar to how Apple's "Optimized Charging Limit" feature works on the Apple Watch. With charging limit, the Apple Watch learns the user's charging habits and slows charging to 80% when it "understands" that it will be plugged in for an extended period of time, such as overnight. This helps reduce battery wear and tear and extend battery life.
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According to the code snippet for the Battery app (version 4.0.00.8), the new feature will stop charging when it reaches a certain percentage and restart when it drops below a preset threshold. Typically, we've seen these thresholds set around 80%, but companies like OnePlus allow users to set custom charging thresholds, going all the way up to 95% in 5% increments. Based on the variables Samsung includes in this code snippet, it looks like we'll see a similar implementation here.
Google is in the process of implementing a similar feature for the Pixel Watch. An APK leak earlier this year found code that suggests Google is adding the Adaptive Charging from Pixel phones to the Pixel Watch, although the feature has yet to be officially released.
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At this time, we don't know when Samsung plans to integrate battery protection into the Galaxy Watch lineup. We're keeping a close eye on developments and will update you as soon as we have more information. In any case, such a feature would be extremely useful for extending battery life as much as possible.
Source: androidauthority
