Tips for your Android Wear Watch

Andy C

• 3 min read

Wearable tech is most definitely the new ‘in thing’ and an Android Wear watch is one of the most advanced piece of wearable technology that you can own. The most current examples include the LG G Watch, Motorola Moto 360 and the Samsung Gear Live, all of which are powered by the Android Wear operating system.

These wearable devices will engage you in every aspect of your life and to allow you to get the most from your smart device; today we publish our tips for your Android smartwatch.

Say “Ok Google”

Your Android smartwatch loves to listen so here are some handy hints for controlling your wearable device with your voice:

  • Speak to do simple tasks– Simply say “Ok Google” and and then touch anywhere on the screen to see a menu of things that you can say to control your smartwatch.
  • Quick settings– To quickly access your setting simply say “Ok Google, settings”.
  • Turn-by-turn navigation– If your Android smartwatch has built in GPS then get turn-by-turn guidance by saying “Ok Google, navigate to…”.
  • Play music– Simply say “Ok Google, play some music” to play, skip and pause music on your Android smartphone or download music albums onto your smartwatch and enjoy your playlists with a paired Bluetooth headset.
  • Set reminders– It has never been easier to ensure you don’t forget to do something important later in the day. Simply say “Ok Google, remind me to water the plants when I get home” or “Ok Google, remind me to pick up flowers at 3pm”

Do more with Android Wear Apps

Your Android watch experience can be infinitely expanded with Android Wear apps and here are a few suggestions to get your smartwatch up and running to its full potential:

  • Dislock– Formerly known as Pebble Locker, this app overrides your Android smartphone’s lock screen when it is close by and locks the screen again when you walk away.
  • Wear Mini Launcher– This app puts a smartphone styled app grid system onto your smartwatch and you can drag this in from the top left corner of the screen. This feature makes it far easier to access apps and you can also choose the icon size, number of columns and the colour scheme.
  • Runtastic– Say “OK Google, start a run” and this app will show you your workout time, distance and calories burned and you can pause or stop activity with just a tap.
  • Android Wear Internet Browser– This app gives you a full web browser with quick access to your bookmarks and history. You can open links in the browser from your phone, use your voice or a mini keyboard to enter text, use a back button, resize with pinch zoom and make voice searches.
  • Lyft– Say “OK Google, call me a car” to order a lift to your location. You can also see how long the wait is, which model of car car is coming and rate the driver.

Quick Android Wear Watch tips

And finally…here are some quick Android Wear tips and tricks to get you going:

  • Dim the screen – It’s easy to save a little battery power by dimming the screen and this can be achieved in two ways. You can manually dim the screen by covering it with your palm until it vibrates or alternatively you can uncheck the ‘screen always on’ option from within the Android Wear app. Once you have selected this option the display will still light up as usual when you move it towards your face.
  • Changing the watch face – To change the watch face simply press and hold on the current watch face.
  • Mute specific app notifications – This can be done easily in the Android Wear app by tapping settings, mute app notifications and then touch the + symbol. After this you can select the apps you want to block.
  • Check your battery life – You can see your remaining battery life by dragging down from the top of the display on your homescreen. From this screen you can also check the date, mute your wearable and turn off all vibrations.

So if you are already one step ahead of the smartwatch game, we hope that these Android watch tips will help you fall in love with your wearable tech even more.