Given the fact Bixby is all but completely dead and the device was the first to run the new version of Wear OS, many assumed Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 from last year would feature the Google Assistant. Instead, the Assistant was nowhere to be seen, and no official word was going from Samsung or Google regarding when it might arrive. Regardless, after what felt like a lengthy waiting period, the Assistant is now available for the Watch 4 through the Google Play Store.
Available for both the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, the Assistant works as you’d expect it. You can fire it up by using voice commands, tapping the app icon, or reprogramming you watch’s side key. In practice, it looks just like how Google described back in February with a black background and Pixel phone-like bottom UI.
According to Google, this version of the Assistant will be much faster and more responsive than the one available on Wear OS 2. All of the features you’ve come to expect will also be available, from setting timers to checking the weather to playing content. This is definitely one of those app rollouts that feels like it has the potential to greatly improve a product, and in the case of the Galaxy Watch 4, there could be a little bit more of that.
What’s next for the Google Assistant on Wear OS? It’s landing on the Pixel Watch, Google’s highly-anticipated in-house smartwatch, later this year. There’s also a chance it’ll be available on other Wear OS watches from Fossil and Mobvoi that will ship this summer.
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