BEWARE - S24 series incompatible with older Samsung watches

[Mr_Ed]

I was excited to receive my new S24 today, but as I tried to set up my Gear S3 it shows as incompatible. 

So I have a choice - keep the watch that came with the phone that I didn't want or need, or send the phone back!

[Littleguy]

I should have bought the S23 instead ***** If I would have known this I wouldn't have committed myself to a 3 year contract for the S24 +. *****.

[Mr_Ed]

I bought a Huawei Watch GT4 instead for about £175. Does everything my Gear S3 did, has a bigger face and a battery that lasts over two weeks. 

Yes. Weeks!

[djadijos]

Samsung stopped support Tizen OS Wearable. It's the beginning of the end of Tizen OS Wearable.

Samsung in the Galaxy Store says:

We are the Galaxy Store
Operations team.
In accordance with internal operating policy, we would like to inform you that we are terminating the content service related
to Tizen Watch.
We want to sincerely thank everyone who has been using Tizen Watch content through the
Galaxy Store Termination of Tizen Watch content
will follow the procedures below, and beginning September 30, 2025 you will no longer be able to download content related to Tizen.
Tizen Watch Content Termination
Schedule
- September 30, 2024 Galaxy Store will stop selling paid Tizen Watch
content.
- May 31, 2025 Galaxy Store will stop allowing new downloads of free Tizen Watch content.
Services related to this
watch will stop everywhere except Galaxy Store, "Menu" > "My Apps". - September 30, 2025 Downloads using existing purchased items in the Galaxy Store, "Menu > "My Apps" will stop.
Frequently asked questions Q1) Which Tizen Watch devices will be affected?
A1) This is the list of watch devices
using Tizen OS. Active1, Active2
Gear, Watch1
Watch3.
All Galaxy Watches released before Watch4 (August 2021) use Tizen
OS.
Watch devices that have been released since then, including the
Watch4, will not be affected as they do
not use Tizen OS.
Q2) How long can I continue using Tizen apps that I have already purchased or installed? A2) Downloaded apps will still be available unless you delete them
from your watch. Additionally, even if you have already deleted them, you can download them again through the Galaxy Store in Menu > My Apps > Clock tab until September 2025.

Q3) Why is Tizen service terminated?
A3) We are no longer applying Tizen OS to watches after Galaxy Watch3 in 2020. Therefore, Tizen service will
only be available until September 2025 according to Galaxy Store's internal service operational policy.

[T_Ivanov]

In other words "thanks for renting the devices you thought you bought, we are now upgrading them to paperweights". FYI, should you make the mistake of resetting your watch past September 2025, you might as well just throw it in the bin.

[Mr_Ed]

I was about to type almost exactly the same comment, but it's not really heavy enough to be a paperweight. I might try skimming it across a lake for its funeral. 

[djadijos]

@Mr_Ed @T_Ivanov 

You have to maintain the entire backend, maintain the entire platform only for Tizen OS Wearable. It's not just a few files on disks, but maintaining the entire store platform for a given system. Additionally, I would like to remind you that this also includes maintaining Samsung Pay for Tizen. Many countries have the ability to use Samsung Pay on Tizen. It is not profitable for them to support something that hasn't got a premiere since 5 years and will not have one anymore.

Moreover, in 4-5 year old watches the battery will need to be replaced anyway. They didn't do it suddenly, they calmly gave them time much earlier so as not to replace batteries and other parts. Most of these watches will die a natural death from wear and tear anyway. The last version is the Galaxy Watch 3 from 2020. That's 4 years since its launch now, in 2025 it will be 5 years. Maintaining it for longer than 5 years after the release of the last watch, when everything new works under WearOS, is nonsense imo.

If you want you can sideload apps via sdb.

[Mr_Ed]

Supporting something for five years is nonsense? 

Imagine if car manufacturers said 'Soz, your car is five years old now so you can't use it any more'

[T_Ivanov]

Like I said, you've rented your watch, you did not buy it. My watch3 goes for 4 days on a single charge. Not a single wear os watch goes that long except the 5 pro. I don't care for samsung pay, my watch is practically offline all the time and only connected via bluetooth to receive notifications and sync my runs to my phone, you do not need a server running somewhere for this. 

[djadijos]

It's the same situation as if you bought a new PC and you can't natively install Windows XP on it because nobody wants to compile drivers for such an old system. Or you're surprised that your old 15-year-old printer doesn't have drivers for Windows 11. We've got advances in technology, nobody's going to support old junk when it's clear that the platform is being phased out. It's also about optimising code to make new things work better. MS-DOS was removed from Windows at one time too, just to move forward. As with the printer, you can use it with old hardware without any problems. Would you also like plug and play support for floppy disks in Windows 11?

[Mr_Ed]

You seem very angry.