What Apps Can The Samsung Galaxy Watch Use

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic on wrist showing the all apps screen containing Samsung Health, the Google Play Store, and others

Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority

The Samsung smartwatch ecosystem is one of the more established wearables platforms out there. Now led by the Wear OS-powered Galaxy Watch 4 series, Samsung's wearable lineup packs many features for health tracking, customization, and more. There's a fair sum of Galaxy Watch apps available to install on the Samsung Galaxy Store and Google Play Store, depending on which watch you own. Whether you're looking to improve your fitness or control your army of smart home gadgets, these are the best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps available.

The best Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 apps for Wear OS

Spotify

Price: Free / Premium Spotify account required for some features

Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority

If you have a Spotify Premium subscription, it's a no-brainer to install the Wear OS app on your wrist. You can download tracks and podcasts to the Galaxy Watch 4 and beam them to your wireless earbuds if you pay for the service. The Spotify Wear OS app offers easy access to your "heavy rotation" artists, playlists, and podcasts, and also lets you broadcast the playing tracks to other speakers or devices.

SmartThings is an essential download if you use your Galaxy Watch 4 paired to a Samsung smartphone or own other Samsung smart devices. The app allows users to control various devices directly from the Wear OS app, from air conditioners to TVs, smart lights to washing machines. You can also build routines or "scenes" that'll initiate a setlist of commands with one tap of a button.

There are plenty of Wear OS watch faces available on the Play Store, but what if you want to build your own? Facer is a popular Wear OS app that does just that, giving users access to a healthy list of pre-made watch faces or tools to build their own.

Samsung Internet Browser

Price: Free

Why wouldn't you want to browse the web from your wrist? It might seem odd to include a full-blown browser on this list, but Samsung Internet Browser does have its benefits. The home page consists of a list of bookmarks, which you can populate with your favorite websites. Browsing is an odd but decent experience on the small screen, but you can also send the page to your phone for a better look.

Gaining access to your notes from your wrist is incredibly useful. Google Keep streamlines this process on Wear OS, syncing with your phone and web scribbles. You can also add notes directly from the Galaxy Watch 4 using the wearable's keyboard, handwriting recognition, or your voice. The latter is especially useful if you're unable to type on your watch while on the go.

Smartwatches often display phone notifications, but what if you wanted to change or view your phone's settings? SimpleWear is an innocuous little app that you probably didn't know you needed. It effectively acts as an information and settings relay for your phone, mirroring the battery life status of your phone on your watch. It also enables access to quick settings toggles, including sound profile, Wi-Fi, location, phone lock, and more. It can also be set as a tile, adding to its utility.

Wear Gesture Launcher

Price: Free

Although it's no longer under active development, this app still has plenty to offer Galaxy Watch 4 users. Wear Gesture Launcher lets Galaxy Watch 4 owners map different apps to letters or shapes drawn on the watch face. Essentially, this lets you bypass the crowded app drawer on Wear OS 3 and go directly to an app you've set a shortcut to. Operation is swift, but the learning curve isn't completely flat. You'll need to remember where on the display you've placed the launcher's hot zone to activate it, too.

C25K

Price: Free / In-app purchases

C25K's claim to fame is its two-month program which aims to help couch potatoes morph into regular runners. Like the Fitbit app, the Wear OS layout is simple. The app will display the workout day you're currently on. You can also select another day's program using the menu. While there are plenty of other fitness apps out there, we enjoy C25K's no-fuss layout, especially on Wear OS.

Strava

Price: Free / $7.99 per month / $59.99 per year

Strava is one of the best-known fitness apps out there and a must-have if you're into multisport. The app records many activities, from runs to bike rides to swims, and a host of additional statistics, metrics, and real-time data. Don't like training alone? Strava has a host of social features baked in, too. If you're not too serious about working up a swear, Samsung's native Health app and your imagination should do just fine, but Strava does help when it comes to keeping up a routine.

An essential Wear OS app if you regularly find yourself yearning for a hike. Outdooractive lets you search for nearby trails using your Galaxy Watch 4's GPS and enables you to download any trail routes you may want to keep. When you are out hiking, you can call up one of those saved trails. The app also provides turn-by-turn navigation, current elevation, and GPS coordinates.

The best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for Tizen

A calculator on your wrist is super handy. While perhaps not an essential app, Samsung's Calculator app does allow users to complete basic mathematic functions on the run. The app also has a built-in tip calculator, which makes calculating dinner time overheads a little easier. It's an extremely lightweight app, too, so it's well worth the install.

Customization is part of the smartwatch experience, so an app that allows you access to various styles is a must. Facer does just that. Already established as a Wear OS app, Facer is also available to Samsung Galaxy watch users and provides similar functionality.

The app allows users to tweak various elements of their watch face, sample a bevy of designs from other users, and create their own faces if they're so inclined. Facer requires a companion app for Samsung watches and the primary app for Android phones.

Here WeGo is the most popular mapping app on the Samsung Galaxy Store. The app provides watch users with a real-time, interactive map complete with audio navigation and alerts. Offline maps support also makes Here WeGo an excellent companion for tourists, while traffic info lets you better understand how long a taxi across town may take.

Although it's not quite Google Maps and lacks that social aspect, Here WeGo is an excellent navigation app in a pinch for the Galaxy watch.

Map My Run best Galaxy Watch Active 2 apps

Under Armour's MapMyRun is another quintessential app for regular runners. While it does lack the versatility of Strava, it provides specific and acute details catering to runners. This includes real-time stats. MapMyRun uses the Samsung Galaxy watch's onboard GPS to compute distance traveled and pace, too. Heart rate monitoring, a live map, and goal-setting smarts add to the experience.

Shake Launcher

Price: $0.99

Shake Launcher transforms shake gestures to shortcuts to quickly load apps on your Samsung Galaxy watch. Although it's a paid app, it does add a pretty smart level of interaction to the watch. Shake Launcher lets users launch set apps after several predetermined shakes of the wrist. These movements can be anything from one shake up to 10.

The app can also function when the screen is off, and a delay can also be added to ensure you don't open the same app continuously. It's great if you hate navigating your display or want to launch key apps as quickly as possible.

Samsung SmartThings is a must-have app for those who own other Samsung smart home devices. For instance, air conditioner owners can adjust the thermostat from their wrists. Those who own Samsung washing machines can get a real-time status update on the washing cycle. SmartThings also lets users control the brand's smart TVs and command smart lights. The app turns your Samsung Galaxy watch into a mobile command center.

Spotify

Price: Free / Premium Spotify account required for some features

As one of the most popular music streaming services, Spotify may be one of the most obvious installs for Samsung Galaxy Watch users. The service has a capable wrist app, too. Premium users can download tracks and podcasts to the watch itself and stream them to wireless earphones. It's a perfect combination for those who like catching up on charts while running or doing chores around the house. Of course, you need to pay for a Spotify membership to download tracks and peruse the full library, but this app might make it worthwhile.

Best apps for Galaxy Watch Active 2 Strava

Strava is an incredibly versatile app for your Samsung Galaxy watch. It tracks a number of physical activities, from cycling to running, hiking, or swimming. Strava also provides more acute details of those activities, allowing more serious users insight into their training regimes.

If you want to get fit, it also adds context to your experience by providing average speed, distance, and other indicating factors. Although Samsung already has its own Health app, Strava is an excellent addition for more serious users.

Voice Recorder lets users quickly record bright ideas when a phone or a writing pad aren't nearby. It uses the Samsung Galaxy Watch's microphone to record brief audio snippets. Activate the app, hold the watch to your mouth, and speak to it. You can tap the stop button if complete or pause if you're interrupted.

If you're worried about occupying storage space on your phone, the app will offload the data to your Samsung phone when possible.

Wrist Flashlight

Price: Free

Wrist Flashlight is as simple as apps get. As its name suggests, it turns your Samsung Galaxy watch into a torch or accent light. It's excellent if you need dim light to navigate dark areas or alert motorists of your presence while on a nighttime run.

Unlike other torch apps for Galaxy watches, Wrist Flashlight can also glow red, orange, or blue, along with the more traditional white. Brightness can also be adjusted by using the watch bezel or display, so you don't blind fellow passengers or yourself during nighttime flights.