I'm new to Samsung and new to Android, being in the middle of a switch from Apple/iPhone. Last Saturday I took delivery of an S25 Ultra and a Watch Ultra. I'm having some difficulty getting a GPX walking route downloaded in to my watch. Here's what I've been able to do:-
1. Create and download a GPX route from "https://www.onthegomap.com/"
2. Transfer the GPX route file from my PC to the "Downloads" folder of my S25.
3. Open the S25 File Manager, navigate to and tap on the GPX file, at which point I can see that I'm given three application choices:-
Samsung Health
Garmin Explore
Walkmaster
[the Garmin and Walkmaster apps being two I've installed as I've used them before on my iPhone].
4. Select "Walkmaster" - I don't yet have my mapping files integrated with Explorer - and see that the moment I do so, Walkmaster opens, brings up the default display, showing my local area with the GPX route represented on it, perfectly, as I would expect.
However, when I try to use Samsung Health, things go a bit sideways...
5. Tap on the "Samsung Health" application, instead of "Walkmaster"...
6. See a new window open. At the top of the screen I get a block of text which reads, "Select photos and videos that you allow this app to access" Immediately beneath the text there is a close "x", then two buttons, "Photos" and "Albums", with the "Photos" content showing [I see 4 wallpapers I have manually added, along with the album cover art for some music I've downloaded]. Then, at the bottom of the display, I have another button which contains the text, "Allo..ne".
7. OK, that makes *absolutely no sense*, but if I then pick an image file at random and tap the "Allo...ne" button, the screen clears and at the bottom I get a block of text which reads, "To use this function, you need to always allow Samsung Health to access all photos and videos in Settings."
But why? Why should a *health* application need to access photos? And why "all the time"? All I want to do is push a GPX file to my Watch Ultra. These permission demands make absolutely zero sense and have undermined any trust I might have had for Samsung and their respect for my data.
I went looking, to see if anyone else had hit this issue and found quite a few examples, such as this thread, with the same question and a possible answer...
https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/mobile-apps-services/samsung-health-gpx-import/m-p/1219461#M1595
However, when I follow the instructions there and try to copy my GPX file to this location:-
\Phone\Android\data\com.sec.android.app.shealth\files
Nothing happens. It is difficult to say precisely what has happened or why - I suspect it might be a file system permissions issue, but I'm trying to do this from Windows 11 and I probably need to try again from my Linux build.
I'll put some details of the software stack of my two devices below for reference - but I would be extremely grateful if someone can explain how I might go about getting GPX files on to my watch please. And maybe help me understand why it isn't as simple as the "drag and drop simplicity" of the Walkmaster app?
Thanks in advance for any you suggestions or help you can share.
Phone
OneUI version: 7.0
Android version: 15
Google Play system updatre: 1 October 2024
Android Security Patch Level: 1 December 2024
Watch
OneUI Version: 6.0 Watch
Software Version: L705FXXU1AXL1
Google Play Services: 25.02.34
System Version: 14
WearOS Version: 5.0
Wear Core Services: 1.21.108.686056245
Security Software Version: ASKS v7.8 Release 20230714
Android Security Patch Level: 1 November 2024
