Samsung smartwatches reportedly failing to open apps on Wear OS 6. A bug appears to be preventing certain apps from opening on the device. Users are frustrated as a key functionality of their wearable has stopped.

Users of Samsung smartwatches have been posting about a frustrating issue where apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, and WhatsApp simply refuse to open.

You tap the icon, the splash screen flashes for a second, and then you’re dumped right back into the app drawer. Similar reports are posted as complaints across various social media platforms, including Reddit.

One Galaxy Watch 8 Classic owner brought it to Reddit, and the replies confirmed this isn’t an isolated incident. Meanwhile, someone in that Reddit thread (via AndroidAuthority) dug into the cause, and it’s a Wear OS 6 kernel problem.

A zombie process, meaning a process that’s technically finished but still sitting in the system’s memory, creates a deadlock when the app tries to close. When you try to relaunch the app, the OS spots that old process, can’t kill it, and aborts the whole startup.

The fix is the May 2026 security patch. A Galaxy Watch 7 owner installed it and reports the bug hasn’t resurfaced since. Although the May patch’s rollout has begun, it’s still not widely available on Galaxy Watch models globally.

A kernel-level bug is making apps unusable on Galaxy Watches; the only potential fix requires a security update that not everyone may have received yet.

If your Galaxy Watch has been eating app launches lately, check your software update settings immediately.

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