The Galaxy Watch Ultra introduced a new design language for Samsung smartwatches. Its circular display sits on a square chassis, emulating the design of some traditional luxury watches and distinguishing it from the fully circular design on older Galaxy Watch models.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra also comes with an additional phsyical button on the side. This button—officially called Quick button—sits between the home/power and back keys. It has a circular shape with an orange hightlight and can be configured by the user.
Out of the box, the quick button is set to launch the My Exercises section of the Samsung Health app so you can quickly start tracking a workout. But you can change that. You can assign the button to a few other apps/functions, such as the flashlight, stopwatch, or water lock mode.
You can also choose whether the button launches the assigned app or activity with a single press or a double press. The button can be disabled as well.
How to configure/customize the Galaxy Watch Ultra Quick button
The Quick button can be customized directly on the watch or from the connected phone. On the watch, open the settings menu on the watch, navigate to Buttons and gestures » Action, then select the feature you want to assign to the button.
If you want to configure the button on your phone, open the Galaxy Wearable app and navigate to the Watch settings » Buttons and gestures » Action menu.
The Buttons and gestures menu is also where you will find the Start action with option. You can use it to set the Quick button to work with a double press instead of a single press.
Long-pressing the Quick button starts the emergency siren
The Quick button on the Galaxy Watch Ultra can also be used to sound the built-in siren in cases of emergencies. To do that, you have to hold the button for more than 5 seconds.
The siren plays continuously until it is manually cancelled. It starts off at a low volume for the first ten seconds. It then switches to a high-pitched sound that can be heard up to 180 meters away. You also get the option to dial the local emergency number.
The long-press shortcut for the siren cannot be assigned to other functions. However, you can disable it from the Buttons and gestures menu in the watch settings. More details on the siren can be found here.
