Disable Workout Tracking in Wear OS 6 / One UI 8 – GW6 & GW8 Users?

[LittleDread]

I’m currently using a Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, primarily for health monitoring and blood glucose tracking via direct Bluetooth connection to a Freestyle Libre 2 CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) sensor using the third-party Juggluco app. The setup works well, but the battery drain is intense, most days I’m charging the watch twice, sometimes even three times.

As a disabled electric wheelchair user with paralysis on one side of my body, I have no use for fitness tracking features like step counting or workout summaries. I’d love to disable those and keep only the essential health functions like heart rate monitoring but from what I’ve gathered, there's no way to turn off individual exercise-related features on the GW6C.

I'm considering upgrading to the new Galaxy Watch 8 Classic or Ultra, mainly for the bigger battery and (hopefully) more efficient granular control over which features are active. Does anyone know if Wear OS 8 with One UI 8 lets you disable exercise features without affecting core health monitoring?

Any insight would be hugely appreciated before I make the jump.

[xSteveuk · Accepted solution]

Hi
Ajust the settings within the Samsung Health app. Navigate to the "Workout detection" or "Activities to detect" section within the app's settings and either disable automatic workout detection entirely or choose specific activities to disable tracking for.....

[LittleDread]

Thank you, do you know if there's a way to disable the step counter? either on the GW6C or the newer GW8C with wear OS 6/One UI 8?

[xSteveuk · Accepted solution]

Try Below

To stop step counting on a Samsung phone using Samsung Health, you can pause or stop the step counting within the app, or you can disable the app's permission to access physical activity data.

Method 1:

Pause/Stop Step Counting within Samsung Health:

Open the Samsung Health app.

Navigate to the "Steps" section.

Tap on the "..." (More options) menu.

Select "Select steps data to show".

Choose "Mobile phone" to view steps counted by the phone.

Tap the "..." menu again and select "Pause counting steps".

To resume counting, repeat the steps and select "Start counting steps".

Method 2:

Disable Physical Activity Permission:

Open your phone's Settings app.

Go to Apps.

Find and tap on Samsung Health.

Select "Permissions".

Tap "Physical activity" and choose "Don't allow

[LittleDread]

Thanks a ton, really solid solutions. Let’s see how much battery life this setup saves over the next few days. I’m still eyeing the new GW8C or maybe even the Ultra. That 590mAh battery and 64GB storage are a serious upgrade. And unlike most, I actually like the new contemporary look of the Watch.