Media Controller can no longer rewind or fast forward after upgrading to One UI 6.0

[dyastrab]

After updating the Galaxy Watch 6 to One UI 6.0, the fast forward and rewind buttons in the media controller no longer function.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. I updated the Galaxy Watch 6 to One UI 6.0.
2. Opened the media controller tile on the watch.
3. Played a podcast from Pocket Cast and You Tube music.
4. On the older UI, pressing the fast forward or rewind buttons skipped forward or backward in the media being played.
5. After the update, pressing the fast forward or rewind buttons has no effect. Playback continues as if the buttons were not pressed.

Environment:

• Device: Galaxy Watch 6
• OS Version: One UI 6.0
• Paired Device: Pixel 9 Pro XL
• Media Apps Tested: Pocket Cast, YouTube Music
• Connection Method: Bluetooth

Additional Information:

• The play/pause button works as expected.
• Issue persists across multiple media apps.
• Restarting the watch and paired device did not resolve the issue.
• Media control functionality was working properly before the update.

[merlin309]

Same issue with an S22 Ultra...

[Wrangler]

I have exactly the same issue with S23 and Galaxy Watch 6.  Samsung, please fix this issue.

[Bonzo_5555]

Exactly the same issue. The skip forward/backwards buttons worked fine on the watch until the UI6 upgrade, but don't after the upgrade. Samsung Watch 5 paired to an A54.

[DanielBrRi]

Same issue. Watch 4.

Started after upgrade to Wear OS 5 / One UI 6. Prior to the update everything worked fine.

Connected to a Pixel 7, but it seems It's a Galaxy watch issue.

Does Samsung know of this issue? Samsung needs to send out an update to all Galaxy Watches on Wear OS 5 / One UI 6 that allows users to fast forward / rewind media again from their watches.

[russ1]

I am able to fast forward and rewind using Spotify on Galaxy Watch6 Classic, but not the "media controls" or Pocket Cast. Pixel 6 Pro

[Fckssake]

My Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has fewer features now than when I bought it in early 2023.

A year later some update broke the GPS on the watch.

And a couple of years later another update broke the fast forward and rewind buttons.

The thing is I bought the watch for the media player controls, because my galaxy earbuds weren't working reliably.

From the beginning the media controls have been quite abismal. Extremely laggy (quite a few seconds to recognize and respond to any button tap, making you tap it again and thus do the opposite of what you originally wanted to do). Taking quite a long time too to load the media you're playing on your phone, sometimes even loading videos you played days ago on your phone rather than the one you're playing now, etc etc. But at least, laggy and buggy as hell as it was it worked.

Now it doesn't even do that. This watch has been disappointment after disappointment after disappointment.

The features it advertises don't really work well enough to be classified as actually working, and on top of that Samsung insists on pushing updates that further break it and ruin whatever features it has that are half working.

Really makes you wonder if it's even worth it at all to go through all this trouble and suffer all these annoyances to have a Samsung watch.

[Midnight98]

I've just discovered that if you force close whatever app your playing music from, and open it again, media controls start working again just fine

[dyastrab]

That doesn't work.

[Lewparsell]

I would not be surprised if this was not pushed by the podcast company's to stop users from skipping adds

[smartesocke]

Same issue here since updating to One UI 6. I can no longer skip to a specific point in the music. This feature was the main reason I bought the watch. As a fitness trainer, I rely on it every day.

Support told me that resetting the watch would fix the problem—I’ve done it twice, but it still doesn’t work.

Pixel 7a and Samsung Watch 5

2025-03-27 Support informed me that the feature has been removed. It is unclear if and when it will be reinstated. However, they are hopeful that it will return due to the high demand.