The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has received an update that adds support for Google Assistant.
Until now the Samsung Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic have only been able to access Bixby, Samsung’s own assistant.
While Bixby can do neat things, like controlling hardware features, it is otherwise not as smart as Google Assistant. Google’s alternative is better at finding information about the outside world — rather than controlling watch features.
Google Assistant for Samsung Watch 4 has started rolling out in ten territories, including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Australia.
To get on-board, you’ll need to download Google Assistant from the Play store on the watch itself.
You may then want to re-configure the side button to launch Assistant in the Galaxy Watch 4’s settings menu. It is part of the Advanced Features area within Settings.
There is no obvious technical reason it has taken so long for a core WearOS feature to come to the Galaxy Watch 4, suggesting Google Assistant’s delay is likely down to politics, or Samsung strategy.
The watch went on sale in late August 2021, roughly eight months ago. This window may have been part of an agreement struck between Samsung and Google, who co-developed the latest version of the WearOS software.
Such a delay not-so-gently encouraged Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 owners to use Bixby, which was at risk of being ignored completely if users had a choice between Bixby and Assistant during the watch’s initial setup.
