Samsung Gear S3's Value Pack update brings fitness tracking improvements, UI tweaks

If you’re one of the proud owners of a Samsung Gear S3, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to hear that Samsung is releasing a huge update for your smartwatch. The new Value Pack update brings a ton of new features and productivity improvements, from an enhanced user experience to new fitness tracking options. Samsung also overhauled the matching Gear smartphone app to reflect the watch interface changes.

The Gear S3 is also gaining real-time heart rate monitoring with improved accuracy. This should be a huge benefit for those who want to work out with their watch. There’s also a new weight management feature, where users can add calories consumed, check calorie balance, and more.

While your smartwatch can certainly help keep you healthy, the new update makes it an even more powerful tool for communication. Now, you can synchronize, edit, and add new contacts from your watch. You can also set up meetings, set a location, and create reminders right from your wrist. Note that the reminders feature is only available on the S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 right now.

Widgets, apps, and icons now fit better, load faster, and display more pertinent information. Along with visual enhancements, the update brings new customization options, such as a Moment Bar, which is essentially a “quick settings” menu. Turning the bezel at varying speeds also allows you to see more or less information on a given menu.

Keep in mind, this update is only available on the Gear S3 right now, though we hope Samsung rolls out some of these features to the Gear S2. To activate the new features, you’ll need to update your Samsung Health app on your phone.