Galaxy Watch 8 is the first watch to ship with Google Gemini AI built in, the first to run Wear OS 6, and the slimmest Galaxy Watch Samsung has ever made at 8.6mm. The squircle case - borrowed from the Watch Ultra - is a clean break from the round form factor that defined the lineup for years. Wear OS offers no native iPhone path; Merge provides one: pair Watch 8 to your iPhone for notifications, call management, and Apple Health sync.
Everything Merge delivers on iPhone
Merge connects Watch 8 to your iPhone. Every iPhone notification lands on the watch the moment it arrives - with a 3,000-nit display, they're readable at a glance even in bright sunlight. You control which apps push to the watch per app, trimming the stream to exactly what you want. Notifications can be dismissed from the wrist.
Phone calls ring on the watch and can be answered and taken directly from your wrist - iPhone contacts sync to the watch for immediate caller identification. Music on your iPhone is fully controllable from the squircle display: skip, pause, adjust volume without touching your phone. And with the iPhone camera app open, the Watch 8 acts as a remote shutter - camera control from across the room or at the end of a selfie stick.
Health data routes into Apple Health: heart rate, steps, distance, floors climbed, calories, and workouts with GPS routes and pace all sync automatically. Continuous heart rate capture means no gaps in the data across the full two-day battery cycle.
On-watch features that run independently
AFib detection on Watch 8 runs entirely on the watch. When an irregular rhythm is detected, the alert shows on the watch screen without needing the iPhone nearby or Merge to be actively connected at that moment. Energy Score is viewable directly in the Samsung Health watch app on the wrist.
Gemini AI handles on-device tasks regardless of which phone is in your pocket: answering questions by voice, composing short messages, setting timers and alarms, translating phrases. The deeper Google integrations that tie into Gmail or Google Calendar natively require Android, but the conversational layer and voice tools work as standalone watch features for iPhone users.
First-time setup
Watch 8 ships with Wear OS 6 - a fresh platform release - and the Galaxy Wearable app on Android is the right way to initialize it. That path handles Google account sign-in, Play Store configuration, and firmware updates together in one flow, making sure the new platform is properly set up before Merge takes over the iPhone connection. If an Android device isn't available, the Merge iPhone app includes a built-in wireless installer that handles Watch 8 activation directly from iPhone - no Android involved.
Installing and pairing Merge
Keep iPhone and watch within a couple of feet of each other throughout.
- On your iPhone, search the App Store for Merge Watch and install it.
- On the watch, open Play Store, search for Merge Watch, and install it.
- Open Merge on your iPhone and keep it on screen; the watch discovers iPhones that have Merge running.
- On the watch, open Merge and approve the Bluetooth permission.
- Tap your iPhone when it appears in the watch's device list.
- Confirm the pairing dialog that appears - the bond completes in seconds.
- Set up your Merge subscription via the iPhone app if prompted.
- Grant notification and health permissions on both devices when asked.
Samsung's battery optimizer works against Merge here: the Sleeping Apps system identifies background processes it considers inactive and shuts them down to save power, which cuts Merge's connection with no warning. The fix is to go to Settings - Battery - More battery settings - Sleeping apps on the watch after setup and remove Merge from the list. That one change keeps the optimizer from interfering.
Using Watch 8 with an iPhone day to day
Watch 8 layers two AI systems: Gemini on the watch handles voice tasks and on-device queries; Merge handles the iPhone connection. At 8.6mm, the squircle case disappears under a sleeve and stays comfortable through full days of wear. Notifications, calls, music control, camera remote, and continuous health sync to Apple Health all run in the background - while Gemini and Samsung's health features operate independently on the watch side.
