Google has just released an update to Android Wear that allows users to store and play music on their smart watch. You can download songs directly to your smart watch, and then play them via compatible Bluetooth headphones. This is a useful new Android Wear feature that is especially beneficial if you feel like listening to music while jogging or working out in the gym but don’t want to carry your phone around. Here’s how to play music on your smartwatch using Android Wear.
Requirements
- Make sure your smartwatch is updated to the latest version of the Android Wear OS. The current version is 4.4W.2 (head to Settings -> About to check it).
- Having the latest version of Google Play Music app on your Android phone.
- A set of Bluetooth headphones.
How to Set up Android Wear to Store and Play Music Directly from Your Watch
First, activate Bluetooth on your smartphone and connect your smartwatch. After you’ve got your watch paired with your phone, launch the ‘Play Music’ app on your Android device and navigate to ‘Settings’, then tick the box next to ‘Download to Android Wear’.
If you have any music stored on your device, the music will begin transferring to your watch automatically. If you don’t, however, you’ll need to download music either from your library or the Play Music Store. You can download music by viewing a playlist, song or entire album and tapping on the three-dot menu icon. From the list, select ‘Download’. Depending on the amount of songs that you’re going to download, this process will take several minutes.
When the download is complete, you’ll need to pair your smartwatch with your Bluetooth headphones. To do this, touch once on the screen of the watch, and scroll down to ‘Settings’, and then select ‘Bluetooth devices’. The watch will look for your headphones (which need to be turned on to be discoverable), and you’ll need to touch the headphones’ name when it pops up on the watch’s display.
To play the music, touch again on the screen to enter the menu, find and touch ‘Start…’, and then touch ‘Play Music’. You will see the music you’ve downloaded with a “Play” button. Touch on it to start listening. While the song is playing, you can swipe from right to left to access playback options and volume controls on the watch face.
To remove tracks from your watch, you must connect your watch with your phone, and then open the ‘Play Music’ app and find ‘Settings’. Uncheck ‘Download to Android Wear’ and your music will be removed from your watch.