How to control your Android phone from Galaxy Watch 4
One reason people buy a smartwatch is to reduce the time they spend on smartphones. While most smartwatches do a great job at that, they lack controls like turning devices on and off, for example, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the flashlight, and hotspots for which you may need to unlock your device. Then, all it takes is one Instagram notification which leads to minutes to hours of endless scrolling. However, if you own one of thebest Wear OS smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 4, or any Wear OS-powered wearable, use an app called SimpleWear to toggle and control phone features from your watch.
Although the app needs admin permissions on Android to function, it’s anopen source app, so you don’t need to worry about it spying and stealing your data. Here’s how to install SimpleWear on yourGalaxy Watch 4and control your phone.
How to control your phone from Galaxy Watch 4
There are two parts to this: installing SimpleWear on your Galaxy Watch 4 and phone and granting all the permissions in the companion app.
The latest version of Wear OS made its debut on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 in August 2023
Install the SimpleWear app on Galaxy Watch 4
Install SimpleWear on your Android device
If you don’t see SimpleWear on the Play Store, download andinstall its APK without the Google Play Storeor from theofficial GitHub releasespage. Additionally, if you can’t locate the SimpleWear companion app on the Google Play Store, fire up the app on your watch and tap the blue icon with a Phone and arrow. This opens the app page on the Google Play Store on your phone.
How to set up SimpleWear
Once you have the app installed on both devices, it’s time to start the setup process. All you need to do is follow the instructions on the companion app, and you’ll be controlling your phone in no time.
Now that we’re done setting up, here’s how to use the SimpleWear app on the Galaxy Watch 4.
How to use the SimpleWear app
Now that the watch is connected to the phone, here’s how to use SimpleWear to control your Android device from your Galaxy Watch 4.
Here’s everything you can control using the app:
If you turn off your phone’s Bluetooth from the watch, the app still syncs your phone, provided your watch is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your phone.
You can also enable and disable mobile data and location. To do so, connect your phone to a computer and run a couple of ADB commands. Follow theofficial guide on GitHubto grant SimpleWear access to the WRITE_SECURE_SETTING permission.
SimpleWear highlights Google’s Ecosystem problem
A smartwatch is meant to eliminate frequent phone usage. There are many things Wear OS gets right, like receiving and making calls and text messages, controlling music, and syncing supported apps. Still, SimpleWear gives great insight into the other tiny, but impactful ecosystem features Google could bring to the platform to make it better.
If you recently bought a Wear OS smartwatch, and it’s your first time using the platform, there are a fewtips and tricks to improve your Wear OS experience. TheGoogle Pixel watchis a great opportunity to improve the Google ecosystem, and so far, it looks promising.
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