Samsung’s apps reveal how Galaxy Aero could work without Wear OS

Samsung appears to be working on a rather different kind of Galaxy smartwatch, one that drops Wear OS in favour of a lighter RTOS platform. We dug through the latest Samsung Health and Galaxy Wearable apps, and while neither gives away the Aero itself, they reveal how such a watch could fit into Samsung’s existing ecosystem.

The Galaxy Aero first surfaced earlier this month, when SamMobile reported finding references to an unreleased Samsung wearable inside the Galaxy Wearable app. Two strings stood out: Galaxy Aero and galaxy_rtos_watch.

That second reference is the more interesting one. Samsung’s mainstream Galaxy Watches run Wear OS, while its simpler Galaxy Fit devices use a much lighter real-time operating system. Calling something galaxy_rtos_watch suggests Aero isn’t simply another fitness band with a new name.

SamMobile suggested the device could eventually sit somewhere between the upcoming Galaxy Fit 4 and the Galaxy Watch FE. Nothing about the final name, price, shape or launch date has been confirmed, so Aero could still change considerably before release.

But after digging through two of Samsung’s current wearable apps, the idea of an RTOS Galaxy watch doesn’t look particularly far-fetched.

Samsung Health is already built to handle RTOS wearables

We started with Samsung Health 7.00.6.004. There is no direct mention of Galaxy Aero in the APK, and there is no hidden galaxy_rtos_watch string either.

What Samsung Health does contain is existing infrastructure for RTOS devices.

One package referenced by the app is:

com.samsung.rtosfit.app.shealth.sport

Tracing that package through the code leads to Samsung’s older Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Fit e and Galaxy Fit2 devices. So this isn’t secret Aero support that Samsung accidentally left exposed. It is existing RTOS plumbing.

More interestingly, Samsung Health doesn’t need every wearable to be completely hardcoded. Its capability system reads information supplied by connected devices, including fields such as os, modelName, tracker_feature and sleep-related capabilities.

The operating-system handling specifically recognises rtos.

That could become important for Aero. Samsung Health already knows how to receive capability information from an RTOS wearable, meaning Samsung wouldn’t necessarily need a separate health platform just because the device doesn’t run Wear OS.

Galaxy Wearable reveals another piece of the puzzle

We also pulled apart Galaxy Wearable 2.2.70.26060861.

This particular version doesn’t contain either Galaxy Aero or galaxy_rtos_watch. That might sound like evidence against the original finding, but the APK itself provides a good reason why that conclusion would be premature.

Buried inside the app are references to:

galaxy_wearable_configuration.json

and:

device_lists

There are also code paths containing messages such as added new device from the server and will use data from the server.

In other words, the list of Samsung wearables doesn’t have to be frozen inside the APK that someone downloads from the Play Store or Galaxy Store. Samsung can supply newer device definitions through its servers.

So the absence of Aero from our APK isn’t especially surprising. The information SamMobile found appears to be newer than at least some of the product data contained in this public build, whether that came from a newer app version, Samsung’s server configuration or another part of the Galaxy Wearable codebase.

Aero could fill a gap Samsung hasn’t really tackled

The bigger question is why Samsung would make this device at all.

Aero could give Samsung something that Galaxy Watch has always struggled to deliver: smartwatch-style hardware with genuinely long battery life. Dropping Wear OS would reduce processor, memory and power requirements considerably, potentially allowing Samsung to target a week or more between charges rather than the much shorter endurance expected from a full Wear OS watch.

There would be compromises. An RTOS device wouldn’t necessarily offer the Play Store, the same third-party app support or all the software flexibility of the current Galaxy Watch9. Samsung would effectively be choosing battery life and simplicity over running a miniature Android computer on the wrist.

That trade-off isn’t necessarily a bad one.

There is plenty of space between a basic fitness band and a full smartwatch. Huawei, Amazfit and others have shown that watches can offer AMOLED displays, notifications, GPS, health tracking, calls and lengthy battery life without needing Wear OS. Aero could be Samsung’s attempt at the same formula.