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Hiow to Upload Music to Smartwatch via Pc

For a lot of people, music is an integral part of working out. But not everyone wants to schlep their phone around while hit the trails or working up a sweat. That'south where smartwatches can come in pretty handy. While nearly every smartwatch lets y'all control music on your phone, a good number tin besides play music on-device.

Whether it'south an Apple tree Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Garmin, Fitbit or Habiliment Bone watch, you've got a lot of options for listening to music. Much of information technology will depend on which service is supported and what Os your watch runs on. Some volition accept options for offline playback, either through downloadable playlists or onboard music storage. If your smartwatch has LTE, yous may besides be able to stream music directly to your wrist.

Continue in mind that y'all'll probable need a pair of Bluetooth headphones, as not every smartwatch has a speaker. Also, if you lot want to download playlists for offline playback, you'll almost certainly need a subscription to the music service of your choice. That's not to say you tin't listen to music for costless. You lot tin, simply your telephone-gratis options volition be much more limited.

Here's a breakdown of the major players past platform, and how to first listening.

A new Apple Watch watch face
The Apple Watch has a lot of tertiary-party music app options besides.
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

Apple Watch

First, y'all'll want to brand sure you have an Apple Picket Series three or afterwards, running the latest possible version of watchOS. While you can mind to music on the Series 2, yous can't install the latest Bone versions on information technology; Apple stopped support with watchOS 7. Also, the Series two is also five years old so you're non probable to accept a good experience. Yous tin can bank check if you're upwards to date on watchOS past heading to the Watch app on your iPhone, selecting General, and and then Software Update.

The easiest way to stream music on the Apple tree Lookout is with, you guessed it, Apple Music. Not but is it preinstalled onto the watch, but if you take an LTE watch with an Apple Music subscription you lot tin stream directly to the wrist. All you have to do is ask Siri to play an creative person or song title. You tin can too scan your library directly from the Music app on the sentinel. If you don't have an LTE sentry, you take the option to download playlists for offline playback.

You can also hop into the Watch app on your phone, scroll downward to the Music app carte, and from there you can load your playlists and albums. This might exist an easier choice if you similar setting things upwardly on a larger screen.

In improver, Apple has a ton of third-political party apps in case you already subscribe to a different service. After years of client complaints, Spotify has now added support for offline playlists and downloads on the Apple tree Lookout man. All y'all have to do is go to the watch's on-wrist App Store, download the Spotify app, and log in. Spotify likewise works with Siri as long as yous add together "on Spotify" to the end of your request.

While Apple tree Music and Spotify are the ii most common music apps for the Apple tree Watch, at that place are plenty of other options. Pandora and Deezer also back up offline playlists. There are also apps similar TuneIn and iHeart Radio if you prefer radio. Overcast, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts are also good options if yous'd rather listen to podcasts.

Just be aware that not all third-party Apple Lookout apps are created equally. While some piece of work flawlessly, others haven't been specifically optimized for a proficient watch feel. Also, not every app will support offline playback, and those that exercise oftentimes require subscriptions.

Most of the pre-installed apps on the Galaxy Watch 4 come from Samsung.
The Galaxy Picket 4 Archetype gives you access to the Google Play Store.
Photo past Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Samsung Galaxy Watches

If you have Samsung'south Galaxy Watch 4 or Scout 4 Classic, you can just skip downwards to the Wear Os section beneath. The process is a picayune different if y'all're still on a Tizen Os lookout.

Spotify was one of the few partner apps available on Tizen watches, just it's been a while since it'due south been updated. (And it likely won't get updated, given that Samsung has gone all-in on Wear Os.) Users have complained on forums about a degraded experience, so we don't recommend using the app.

Many of Samsung'southward older Tizen watches — the Milky way Sentinel 3, Galaxy Scout Active and Active 2, and the Galaxy Lookout man, for example — have onboard storage so you tin can directly load music files onto them.

How Android users can add music via the Milky way Wearable app:

  • Load the songs you want onto your phone
  • Striking Sentinel settings and so Manage content or Add content to your watch
  • Tap Add together tracks
  • Select the files you desire, or hit All in the upper left corner.
  • Once you hit Done you can play music on your watch via the Music app.

iOS users need to have an iPhone 6 or later on running at to the lowest degree iOS 12:

  • Load the songs you lot want onto your phone
  • Open the Galaxy Lookout app
  • Navigate to the Home tab in the lesser left
  • Select Add content to your watch

Samsung supports MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG, and WMA files. Nevertheless, you can't export music from streaming services like Spotify or Google Play, which use encrypted files.

The Fossil Gen 6 is a large watch, but looks good on my wrist
Fossil's Gen 6 smartwatch runs Wear OS 2, which has slightly more than express music options.
Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

Wear OS watches

If you've got a Samsung Milky way Spotter 4 or Picket 4 Archetype, this will be piece of cake. These watches are the first (and for at present, merely) watches to run Wear Bone 3. That ways they've got the Google Play Shop right out the box.

Right now your all-time app choices are Spotify and YouTube Music, both of which support offline playback. (Though you exercise demand to exist a paying subscriber.) Android users tin can also follow the steps outlined in the previous section to physically load music onto the watch. The Milky way Watch 4 and Lookout 4 Archetype do not, even so, back up iOS.

Correct now, not-Samsung Clothing Bone watches run Wear OS 2. It'll stay that way until we get a new batch of Clothing Os watches or Google finally releases the update sometime afterwards this year.

For a while, Vesture OS 2 users didn't really have whatever good options for listening to music after Google shuttered Google Play Music. That's no longer the instance. The Spotify app now supports streaming and offline playlists for Article of clothing Os ii watches every bit well. Google'southward besides finally brought YouTube Music to Vesture OS 2. Keep in mind that you'll need a subscription and you can only accept offline downloads — no streaming.

To get started:

  • Navigate to the Google Play Shop
  • Download YouTube Music onto your watch
  • Sign in to your YouTube Music account
  • Tap the song or playlist you lot want to download
  • Hit the download icon
Spotify, Deezer, and Pandora are some of the major music services on Fitbit smartwatches.
Photograph past Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Fitbit

By far the easiest fashion to heed to music on a Fitbit smartwatch is to use Spotify, Deezer, or Pandora.

The Spotify app is more of a music control app. It doesn't support offline playback, so your phone needs to be nearby with the Fitbit app running in the background and connected to the internet. You also demand a Spotify Premium business relationship.

Pandora and Deezer come preloaded on the Fitbit Ionic (which was recently recalled), Sense, and Versa series (with the exception of the Versa Lite). Yous need to have a paid subscription to either service, also as a Wi-Fi connection. Deezer users tin can download their playlists, while Pandora users can download their most-played stations or popular curated Conditioning stations.

Yous tin likewise use the Fitbit Connect app to transfer your own files onto your device (the simply exceptions are the Fitbit Sense, Versa Low-cal Edition, and Versa 3). The app is free to download here — just scroll all the way down to the lesser of the page.

Fair warning: this is a tedious process that Fitbit outlined here under the "How do I download playlists to my Fitbit watch?" section. Once you expand that section, curl downward to the Mac or Windows drop-down menus to see step-by-footstep instructions.

The Garmin Fenix 7S on top of a book and next to coffee.
You tin can load music from the Connect IQ store, or via the Garmin Express app.
Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Garmin

Correct now, Garmin supports four major music streaming services: Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, and iHeartRadio. You can download all the apps via the Connect IQ store. (Again, yous'll need to take a subscription.) Just once you've downloaded the app in question, navigate to your watch's music/media widget. From there you can select your service of option and you'll exist prompted to log in to your account. Once that's washed, yous tin can begin syncing your music and playlists.

The majority of Garmin watches come with music storage; you can bank check out the list here. But as with Fitbits, loading your personal libraries onto the lookout man tin can be a tedious process. You'll have to download the Garmin Express app onto your computer and from at that place, follow Garmin'south detailed step-by-step instructions for both Mac and Windows users on how to manage your music and audio files.

Correction, March nine, 2022, 9:30AM ET: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Spotify offline playlists and streaming wasn't available for Wear Bone 2. We regret the mistake.

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Source: https://www.theverge.com/22959795/music-smartwatch-apple-samsung-fitbit-garmin-wear-os