Are you looking to use YouTube Music on your Android smartwatch with Wear OS? Read this guide to find out more.
If you use YouTube Music and have an Android smartwatch with Wear OS, you can directly use your wearable to listen to music without relying on your smartphone. This is possible thanks to the YouTube Music Wear OS app, which will allow you to download music to your smartwatch and stream it directly to your Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
The YouTube Music Wear OS app will be useful for anyone who often goes hiking or running, as you can eliminate the need to carry your smartphone just for playing music.
Google's YouTube Music app is available for smartwatches with Wear OS 2 and Wear OS 3. If you have another smartwatch with LiteOS or Tizen OS, you cannot install the YouTube Music app on it.
How to install the YouTube Music app on your Android smartwatch
- Go to on the Play Store. Install the app on your Android device if you don't already have it.
- Now tap the button Install shown next to your Android smartwatch name in the section Available on multiple devices of the list.
Wait a few minutes, then check the app drawer on your Wear OS smartwatch. The YouTube Music app should be installed.
How to use YouTube Music on your Android smartwatch
The first time you open the YouTube Music app on your Android smartwatch, you will need to select the YouTube account you want to use with the service.
The YouTube Music Wear OS app will not recognize any other Google accounts that you are logged into on your Android device. So, if your YouTube Music account is not linked to the main Google account on your device, you will need to create your music library from scratch.
The Wear OS app doesn't automatically use the same account you're using in the YouTube Music app on your smartphone.
Even apart from that, many other limitations significantly limit the usefulness of the app. You can use the YouTube Music app only on your Android smartwatch to download and stream music to a connected Bluetooth device.
You cannot use the app to stream music directly to your Android smartphone or any other connected Bluetooth speaker, nor can you force it to play music through your smartwatch speaker.
You can't even use the YouTube Music app on your Android smartwatch to control music playback from YouTube Music on your Android device.
As for downloads, they happen over Wi-Fi when your Android smartwatch is charging, with all downloads queued up to that point. If you have an LTE smartwatch, you can turn on the option to download music via mobile data. The amount of music you can download will depend on your smartwatch's internal memory.
In addition to individual songs and albums, you can also download custom playlists or mixes for offline playback. There is also a smart download feature that will automatically download 50 to 500 songs, depending on your preferences.
Once you play the music, you will be able to control the volume, skip forward or backward and like a song.
Conclusions
Unfortunately, the YouTube Music app for Android smartwatches running Wear OS is very simple and with severely limited functionality. Just stream music to your Bluetooth headphones while you're out hiking or running, and that's it. The app doesn't work in conjunction with the YouTube Music app on your Android device.
If you want a better music playing / controlling experience on your Android smartwatch, you can consider using Spotify as it has a better Wear OS app.
