Galaxy Watch 4: My top 10 apps and features you need to know

I have been using the Galaxy Watch 4 every day since it launched about five months ago. Here are my ten favorite apps and features that have turned out to be useful, practical, helpful or just really cool. I bought the watch myself, so this is an independent hands-on review. The links to the apps are in the video description.

The top 10 at a glance

1. Wear Gesture Launcher
2. Gesture control for calls
3. Theater mode
4. Samsung Health
5. Google Pay
6. Spotify
7. Shazam
8. Gboard
9. Google Maps
10. Anti-stress loops

Number 10: Anti-stress loops

A game as a pastime, for example on the train or in the waiting room. You have to concentrate and relieve a bit of stress on the side. It’s very entertaining and easy to play in between. Because of its simplicity, it works great on the Galaxy Watch.

Number 9: Google Maps

I’ve used the app from the start and I’m thrilled. You get directions on the smartwatch. The watch vibrates for every upcoming instruction. A glance at your wrist is enough, and you know where to walk or drive without looking at your smartphone.

Number 8: Gboard

With the Google keyboard, you can reply to or write messages on the watch reasonably comfortably. With the normal keyboard, it was very uncomfortable for me, and I’d rather quickly grab my smartphone. Thanks to Gboard, the number of times I reply to messages on the watch has gone from zero to two.

Number 7: Shazam

On Google’s smartphones, there’s a feature that shows the title and artist of a song on the lock screen when music is detected nearby. I painfully miss that on Samsung. For the watch, there’s Shazam, which you can start right from the watch to identify music around you. By the time I’ve dug my smartphone out of my handbag, the song is usually already over.

Number 6: Spotify

For music without a smartphone, for example while working out, you install Spotify on the watch, download playlists and listen offline. As a music lover, an absolute must-have for me.

Number 5: Google Pay

Thanks to the close cooperation with Google, the Galaxy Watch 4 has Wear OS as its operating system, which means you can use Google apps on the watch. Paying with Google Pay on your wrist is one of my absolute favorite features.

Number 4: Samsung Health

I’m a big fan of the Samsung Health app. Among other things, it provides very detailed sleep analysis if you wear the Galaxy Watch at night. In addition to the sleep stages, it now also analyzes whether you snore in your sleep. I find that useful, because snoring is not only an acoustic burden for the person next to you but also a burden on your body and sleep quality. Not relevant for me, of course.

Number 3: Theater mode

Theater mode mutes notifications on your wrist. The display also doesn’t light up when you reach into the popcorn several times. I find it handy that you can set directly how long the mode stays active. I always forget to turn it off again. You’ll find it in the watch’s quick settings.

Number 2: Gesture control

You can accept or decline a call with a gesture. That’s useful if you’re standing in the kitchen with muddy fingers, for example, and don’t want to touch the watch. You’ll find the setting in the Wearable app under Settings.

Number 1: Wear Gesture Launcher

With the two side buttons of the Galaxy Watch 4, you can only set a few shortcuts, which I find far too few. That’s what the Wear Gesture Launcher is for. You draw a symbol of your choice on the display and use it to open the matching widget or app as a shortcut. I now use it constantly.

Verdict

These apps and features make the Galaxy Watch 4 much more useful. From pastime to navigation and music to payments, there’s something for everyone. My favorite is the Wear Gesture Launcher.