The last two generations of Samsung smartwatches are running on Wear OS 3, Google’s operating system for wearable devices. This greatly expands their capabilities as there are a vast number of applications available for this platform and if you want to use the voice assistant from Google on these wearables, rest assured that it’s entirely possible, and we’ll explain exactly how to do it.
To use Google Assistant on a Samsung smartwatch, you’ll need to meet two requirements that the series 4 and 5 devices satisfy by default: the watch must run on the latest Wear OS version and have a built-in microphone for interacting with the assistant. Once set up, you’ll no longer need to use Bixby, Samsung’s default voice assistant for Galaxy devices.
Step-by-step instructions
Firstly, note that these instructions will only work on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and 5; previous models are not compatible. Additionally, we assume that you already have the Google voice assistant installed and set up on your phone. If you do not, installing it on the phone should be step 0 for you 🙂
Installing Google Assistant on the watch
- Access the Play Store on your smartwatch, which can be found among the icons of the installed applications.
- Navigate to the “My Apps” section, then select the voice assistant icon and install it. You may need to download an update if it’s your first time using the assistant.
- Open the app and complete the setup wizard, including selecting appropriate options for your personal use case.
- To complete the activation, you’ll need to open the app on your smartphone.
- From now on, you can activate the assistant by saying “OK, Google” or clicking on the app icon on your watch. You can then use any of the available commands, such as asking for directions or controlling your smart home devices.
- Additionally, you can even set the Google Assistant to launch when long pressing the top right button or you can leave that shortcut the way it is to launch Bixby if you want to use them both.