The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 finally lands the Google Assistant

After months of confusion and a lot of back and forth, Samsung has unexpectedly and surprisingly updated the Galaxy Watch 4 to support the Google Assistant. Early on, it wasn’t entirely clear as to when or even if the tech giant would officially support the Assistant but later reports and even a carrier leak informed us otherwise. What’s most surprising about the update is that Samsung actually announced that the Assistant wouldn’t make its way to the Galaxy Watch 4 until this summer and the company didn’t give a hard date for the release.

In true sales 101 fashion, Samsung appears to have underpromised and over-delivered. As of yesterday, the Google Assistant is available for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 in select markets. This fulfills one of the promises made when Google and Samsung partnered to create a “unified” Wear OS platform that brings us the best of both ecosystems. Users in the markets listed below are now free to download the Assistant to their watches and enjoy the benefits of Google’s little helper right from their wrists.

Google Assistant will be available in 10 markets, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, The UK and USA. It will, also, support 12 languages, which include Danish, English (American, Canadian, United Kingdom, Australian, Irish), Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French (Canadian, France), and Taiwanese.

How to install and enable the Assistant on the Galaxy Watch 4

Installing the Google Assistant is no different than any other compatible Wear OS application. First, head to the settings menu on your watch and make sure your software is up to date. Next, simply open the Play Store on your smartwatch and search for “Google Assistant.” You should see the app at the top of the search results and then, you can proceed with the installation and setup. (Presumably, you will eventually be able to install the Assistant from the Play Store on another device but for now, it told me that it was not compatible.) You will need your phone for the next steps so make sure it’s close and connected to your watch.

You should see a screen that prompts you to activate the Assistant. Once you press that, you’ll continue the setup on your phone. You’ll need to activate the Assistant and then, enable Voice Match in order to use the “Hey, Google” feature. You can opt to allow Google to save your recordings for improving the platform or opt-out if that’s not your thing. It won’t affect your experience. Once the setup is complete, your Google Assistant is ready to go on your watch but Bixby is still the default assistant when you press the top button. Let’s fix that and make sure that “Hey, Google” is up and running.

To set the Assistant as your default smart helper on your watch’s home key, open up the watch settings menu in the Galaxy Wear app on your phone or you can go directly to the Advanced Features option in the settings menu of your watch. In the Advanced Features setting on your phone, you should see “Home Key” at the top directly under the SOS option. You can set these however you prefer but by default, holding the Home Key will trigger Bixby. Simply click Press and hold and change Bixby to the Assistant.

Last but not least, head to your watch’s settings and scroll down until you get to the Google tab. Click that and then, click the “Assistant” tab and make sure “Hey Google” and “Speech output” are enabled. That’s it. You’re all set to use the Assistant on your Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. I’ve given it a go and my watch allowed me to seamlessly send a text message and control all of my smart home devices. Since I have the LTE model, I can do all of this and more and my phone doesn’t even have to be on!

I just want the steps!

1. Open Play Store on your Galaxy Watch 4
2. Search Google Assistant button
3. Click Install
4. Activate the Assistant
5. Continue activation on your phone
6. Enable Voice Match
7. Open the settings On your watch
8. Go to Advanced Features and Customize Keys
9. Set the Assistant to your Home Key
10. Go to “Google” in your Watch settings
11. Enable Hey, Google and Speech output

That’s it! Now you’re all set to use your Galaxy Watch 4 and your own, personal Google Assistant. This adds some serious value to Samsung’s already great wearable and hopefully, we’ll see more updates in the future as Google and Samsung work together to make Wear OS great. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks to get the most out of Wear OS.