Galaxy Watch 5 Pro Will No Longer Connect to S23 -- UI 8 Problem?

[AlaskaWolf]

I've had my GW5 Pro now for 2.5 years and it has worked flawlessly (with the exception of the first battery dying under warranty).  A couple of days past, my S23 (Android 16) updated to UI 8, shortly after that I noticed that my GW5 Pro had disconnected from my phone.  Both devices bluetooth functionality is turned on, and whenever I try to re-pair, I get the same pairing codes on both devices.  However when I go through the connection process, the GW5 Pro reports connection failed and the S23 simply tells me that my GW5 is available for setup.  I have performed the factory reset on my GW5 numerous times now, to no avail.  I have restarted and rebooted the S23 numerous times, and have removed and reinstalled the Galaxy Wearable app as well as the Galaxy Watch 5 Plugin several times.  I have even gone through all of these procedures on both devices simultaneously but they still refuse to connect even though they are communicating with each other, as evidenced by the identical pairing codes appearing on both devices.  I called Samsung Support, but the only answers they could give me were to walk me through the procedures I had already gone though and then tell me there was nothing more they could do. 

This whole problem started within minutes of the UI 8 download, which I cannot even roll back.  And nothing I've tried will get my GW5 Pro and S23 to reconnect.  I've heard there were problems between the GW4 and UI 8 after Samsung started the UI 8 push to GW4s and they had to stop the UI 8 push.  I did get my 5 Pro back up and running in standalone mode, but battery life is now less than 20 hrs from full charge, but a charge from 31% to 100% now only takes 15 minutes.

Interestingly, its definitely not the S23 as it connects to a Fit3 with no problem at all.  Anyone have any ideas?

[Ekamek]

Is the watch on WatchOS 6? Check permission for Google Play Services.

Mine works even after a few months of being off. I recently turned it on, paired it with my S23U, updated it to WatchOS 6, and it's still working. Phone has been on 1UI8 since it came out.

[AlaskaWolf]

Yes, it is on Wear OS  ver. 6, and Google Play Services are allowed.  Watch was working just fine until UI 8 loaded three days ago, you can actually see  different apps stopped sharing data three days ago as well.

[Ekamek]

Did you clear the phone's cache partition? It's weird that mine works perfectly with my S23U on 1UI8. Try changing the Bluetooth AVRCP versions to see if it makes a difference. Mine is on 1.5 which is probably the default for you. Resetting the Bluetooth and Network settings is an option to try as well but it deletes all your connection/paired history. I personally don't reset connections.

Your S23 was still on 1UI7 until recently?

[AlaskaWolf]

Yep, I cleared the cache numerous times.   And yes, my S23 was on UI 7 until 4 days ago now. 

[Ekamek]

Hopefully someone can provide better tips that will help.

[AlaskaWolf]

I was hoping. 😆  Samsung support didn't have any help, other than the generic troubleshooting that's on line.  Weird thing is that its definitely the watch. They go through the pairing procedure just fine and the S23 actually initially reports they are paired, then the GW5 comes back and says "Pairing Failed" and the S23 changes the GW5 from being paired to being available for pairing again.

[Ekamek]

The only time I had the issue with all my watches (5Pro, 6, 7) is when I didn't have the permissions set/allowed. All available permissions minus location (just for me) are allowed on Play Services app. You can allow location if you want to.

[AlaskaWolf]

Yeah, I thought about that, but Factory Reset resets everything, including permissions, and I've now done that many times...

[Ekamek]

Resetting on the phone not the watch. I may have missed where you said you factory reset the phone.