Since Samsung decided to install the Wear OS operating system on its smart watches, the Galaxy Watch now not only brings the Play Store, but also the Google Assistant. However, with this the South Korean company has not given up offering its services. The Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 continue to include the Bixby virtual assistant developed by Samsung Electronics as the default voice assistant. That means you can’t use Google Assistant on your new Samsung watch without having previously activated and configured it.
For that reason, in this tutorial we will explain how to activate Google Assistant on your Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 / 4 Classic or Galaxy Watch 5 / 5 Pro and configure it to start using it directly from your wrist. Please note that doing this does not remove or uninstall Bixby. In fact, the functions of the Google Assistant can be combined with those of Bixby.
How to activate Google Assistant on Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or 5: step by step
While activating Google Assistant on your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5 is super easy , you need to make sure you meet certain preconditions. So don’t skip any of the steps below.
Update the Google Assistant app on the watch
First of all, you need to have the Google Assistant app updated on your watch. Just connecting your smartwatch to the Internet should be enough for the app to update itself. However, the best way to update the assistant on your watch is to go directly to the Google Play Store to check for the update (if one is available). You can do it by clicking on the following box:
Update your smartwatch from the Galaxy Wearable app
Also, it should be noted that Google Assistant requires that you have your Galaxy Watch updated to its latest firmware version . If you don’t know if your smartwatch is up to date, you can check it as follows:
- On your phone paired to the watch, open the Galaxy Wearable app.
- Go to Clock Settings .
- Select Watch Software Update .
- If an update is available, tap Download and install . If there is no update, you don’t have to do anything, because your watch already has what it takes to use Google Assistant.
Activate the Google Assistant on your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5
Once you have done the two previous verifications, you can now activate Google Assistant on your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5 in this way:
- Display the apps menu of your Galaxy Watch.
- Open the Google Assistant app.
- Click Get Started and follow the instructions on the screen.
- Finally, you will have to make the configuration on the mobile to which you have linked your Galaxy Watch.
Choose Google Assistant as your default virtual assistant on your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5
After activating it, you can now use the Google Assistant on your watch just by saying ” Hey Google ” out loud. But if you press and hold the home/power button, Bixby will still appear. To change this, you just have to do the following:
- Go to Clock Settings .
- Look for the Advanced Features option and select it.
- Click on Customize keys .
- Select Press and hold and choose the option Activate Google Assistant .
How to use Google Assistant on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or 5
Now you can use the voice assistant on your Samsung smartwatch by saying voice commands to it, just like you would on your Android phone. Remember that before giving an instruction to the assistant, you must ask him to listen to you in one of three ways:
- Saying ” Hey Google ” or ” Hey Google ” out loud.
- Holding down the home/power button for a few seconds.
- You can also open the Google Assistant app on your watch and tap the microphone icon to speak.
And don’t forget that you can still use the Bixby assistant with the “Hey Bixby” passphrase. That is all! We hope this short guide has helped you learn how to use the Google Assistant on your Samsung smartwatch.
