Samsung Galaxy Store Bids Goodbye to Tizen Smartwatch OS—Why?

Tizen smartwatch OS-based users, bad news from Samsung as it is dawning on your access to the Galaxy Store. In the coming months and years, downloads, updates, and more will no longer be available.

There will be a subsequent timeline for Samsung's sunsetting ordeal, but effectively, it will no longer offer the latest content on the affected smartwatch models despite still being usable.

These changes to the Galaxy Store for Tizen OS affect six different Galaxy Watch models, and Samsung is moving forward with Wear OS for its wearable technology.

Samsung Galaxy Store: No More Access for Tizen Smartwatch OS

An email screenshot shared by Redditor u/Seaweed_Maximum revealed an email allegedly from a Galaxy Store Operations team member, saying that Tizen-based Samsung Galaxy Watches will soon be revoked access to the platform.

It brought up a timeline of the Galaxy Store's changes for Tizen OS-based smartwatches, with the affected models including the Galaxy Watch 4 (August 2021 version), Galaxy Watch 3, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active 2, Galaxy Watch Active, and Galaxy Gear.

This shutdown will also cause the core services of Samsung smartwatches to cease operations. The only source is the Galaxy Store, which will no longer allow new downloads on May 31, 2025.

What Will Happen in Galaxy Store's Tizen OS Sunset?

The first phase of this sunsetting will start by September 30, with paid content for Tizen OS devices no longer being sold to users. Next up is May 31, 2025, as mentioned above.

Lastly, come September 30, 2025, redownloads on the Galaxy Store on 'My Apps' and more will no longer be available, whether paid or free content. The Tizen developer portal will stop pushing new apps or updates until June 2025.

Samsung Galaxy Watch's Tizen OS and Wear OS

The Samsung and Tizen partnership has been ongoing for a long time. The Linux-based operating system is best known for initially taking on Android in smartphones and wearables. For Samsung's Galaxy Watches, its partnership with Tizen stemmed more than a decade ago, with the Galaxy Gear 2 being best known for booting Android in favor of the Tizen OS.

It was previously known that the renowned Wear OS, Google's and Samsung's take on a smartwatch operating system, merged the power of Tizen OS with this up-and-coming technology back in 2021. They aim to compete with the renowned watchOS from Apple, combining the power of Google, Samsung, and Tizen under one platform.

However, throughout the years, Samsung has shifted towards the Wear OS from Google and saw it leave behind Tizen OS to the old devices that carry it. The last of Tizen OS's presence on Samsung wearables was in the August 2021 release of the Galaxy Watch 4, but later releases saw Wear OS, with that changing drastically as access to the Galaxy Store would also be removed, finalizing it come September 2025.