Some users have found that turning off Samsung’s Health Platform, which transfers fitness data across platforms, has solved the issue. Others have reported that Google Maps is the culprit, and turning off the mirroring options in the app can fix it. WhatsApp has also been known to cause these phantom vibrations, but even uninstalling and reinstalling the app might not solve the problem.
Image credit — PhoneArena
Since there doesn’t seem to be one specific cause for these phantom vibrations, it might be a good idea for Samsung to implement notification settings for the Galaxy Watch itself. Android already has a similar feature that allows users to silence specific notification categories within an app. This could be really helpful for apps that are known to cause phantom vibrations. In either case, in its current state this is obviously an issue that cannot just be ignored and cannot be fixed by the user.
If I had a Galaxy Watch 7, I’d be pretty annoyed by these phantom vibrations. I would find them distracting and would have me constantly wondering if I’m missing important notifications. This can be especially frustrating by those that depend on vibrating notifications, such as those that are hard of hearing — and thus would not be able to hear an alert — or simply those that must mute their devices during the day for work reasons. I hope Samsung addresses this issue soon, either by fixing the underlying bugs or by adding more granular notification settings.
