Your Samsung Galaxy Watch will soon measure temperatures on any surface
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is expected to debut next week alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Z Flip 5, with the company's Galaxy Tab S9 series also crammed into the July 26 launch event. A bulk of the Galaxy Watch 6's hardware is already out in the open, revealing the presence of largely the same array of sensors as the Galaxy Watch 5 series, including the temperature sensor. Samsung has now confirmed that this sensor would be better utilized on the upcoming Galaxy Watch 6 series and the existing crop of Galaxy Watch 5 smartwatches using a new app called Thermo Check: LifeTemperature.
In a blog post detailing the changes, Samsung said the new Thermo Check app — which is already live on the Play Store — would let owners of "upcoming Galaxy Watch devices" measure the food in front of them, the water in the pool, and the surroundings without needing to come in physical contact with the surface. Samsung finally put the Galaxy Watch 5's temperature sensor to good use with an update in April, focusing largely on women's cycle tracking. But this update would enable practically every Galaxy Watch 6 or Galaxy Watch 5 owner to check out the temperature of items in their surroundings.
Based on the company's phrasing in this new press release, the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 6 Classic could support this app out of the box, while Galaxy Watch 5 models would have to wait for an update sometime in the future. There's no mention of 2021's Galaxy Watch 4 series here, which presumably means it won't support the new Thermo Check app.
Screenshots available in the Play Store listing confirm some of the Thermo Check app's UI elements, including from the smartwatch version of the app. Using Google Translate-based tools, we can tell that the app could also potentially measure the temperature of wood, plastic, and metals, though this hasn't been confirmed by Samsung just yet.
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There's even an illustration of how to measure a hot pan, asking wearers to remove the smartwatch first and then hold it close to the utensil. However, one of the illustrations provided in the app screenshots indicates that it's safe to dip your hand into some surfaces, like a pool, for instance, whilst wearing the Galaxy Watch.
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The app isn't made by Samsung but by a fellow South Korean developer named Partron, whose list of published apps includes several companion apps for consumer-focused devices, including smart thermostats, Bluetooth earbuds, and more.
Samsung also said that the upgraded Samsung Wallet app — which brought together the company's Pass and Pay platforms in an update last year — is coming to the "new Galaxy Watch series" for one-stop access to your payment information as well as passwords, IDs, passes, or tickets. Lastly, Samsung discusses the long-awaited arrival of WhatsApp for Wear OS this week, making some of the chat app's core features available directly on the wearable (Wear OS 3 and above), including for the older Galaxy Watch 4 lineup.
Source: Android Police
