It’s not just Spotify who’s making small waves for smartwatches. Google’s own YouTube Music is now making an appearance for devices running the new Wear OS platform that its parent company has co-created with Samsung. They are doing a “soft launch” of the music streaming app on smartwatches running on this new version of Wear OS, which basically means the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 and the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic. These devices are still in the pre-order stage but it will be good to know you can download the YouTube Music app when you finally get yours.
Android Police says that the new YouTube Music app will be available for the Galaxy Watch4 series first and afterward for all smartwatches that will be running on the new Wear OS platform. The app’s changelog itself has not explicitly stated that but if you look at their Play Store listing, you’ll notice that there are new Wear OS screenshots. And if you go to the YouTube Music Help page, it states that the new wearable app “”currently only works on watches with Wear OS powered by Samsung.”
This means that only the Galaxy Watch4 series will be running the new YouTube Music app and not all Wear OS devices. It’s not stated though if it will eventually come to current and older Wear OS smartwatches but that may be sometime in the far future if it will happen at all. The new Wear OS collaboration between Samsung and Google is expected to yield more devices eventually so consumers may want to upgrade their older wearables.
In case you are waiting for your new Galaxy Watch4 and you prefer YouTube Music, you’ll be able to enjoy features like Smart Download. This automatically updates your app with new music every night based on what you’ve listened to before. Your device has to be plugged in and have at least 40% charge. Your downloaded music can also be played up to 30 days when your device goes offline. There will probably be a few more new features so let’s wait when the changelog reflects this.
Meanwhile, some of those who pre-ordered their Galaxy Watch4 may have to wait a little longer. Samsung has emailed the affected users that their device may arrive mid-September instead of the expected last week of August due to unexpected high demand.
