For many people, music is an integral part of working out. But not everyone wants to use their phone while hitting the trails or sweating it out. This is where smartwatches can be very helpful. While almost all smartwatches let you control music on your phone, a good number can also play music on the device.
Whether it's an Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Garmin, Fitbit, or Wear OS, you have plenty of options for listening to music. This will largely depend on the supported service and the operating system your watch is running on. Some will have offline playback options, either through downloadable playlists or through built-in music storage. If your smartwatch has LTE, you might also be able to stream music directly to your wrist.
Keep in mind that you'll probably need a pair of Bluetooth headphones, as not all smartwatches have speakers. Also, if you want to download playlists for offline playback, you'll almost certainly need a subscription to your music service of choice. That doesn't mean you can't listen to music for free. You can, but your options without a phone will be much more limited.
Here's a breakdown of the major players by platform and how to start listening.
apple watch
First, you need to make sure you have an Apple Watch Series 3 or later, running the latest possible version of watchOS. Although you can listen to music on the Series 2, you cannot install the latest versions of the operating system on it; Apple stopped support with watchOS 7. Also, the Series 2 is also five years old, so you probably won't have a good experience. You can check if you're up to date on watchOS by heading to the Watch app on your iPhone, selecting General, then Software Update.
The easiest way to stream music to the Apple Watch is, you guessed it, Apple Music. Not only does it come pre-installed on the watch, but if you have an LTE watch with an Apple Music subscription, you can stream directly to your wrist. All you have to do is ask Siri to play an artist or song title. You can also browse your library directly from the Music app on the watch. If you don't have an LTE watch, you have the option to download playlists for offline playback.
You can also access the Watch app on your phone, scroll down to the Music app menu, and from there you can load your playlists and albums. This might be an easier option if you like setting things up on a bigger screen.
Plus, Apple offers a ton of third-party apps in case you already subscribe to another service. After years of customer complaints, Spotify has now added support for offline playlists and downloads on the Apple Watch. All you need to do is go to the App Store on the watch wrist, download the Spotify app and log in. Spotify also works with Siri as long as you add "on Spotify" to the end of your request.
Although Apple Music and Spotify are the two most common music apps for the Apple Watch, there are plenty of other options. Pandora and Deezer also support offline playlists. There are also apps like TuneIn and iHeart Radio if you prefer radio. Overcast, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts are also good options if you prefer to listen to podcasts.
Just be aware that not all third-party Apple Watch apps are created equal. While some work flawlessly, others haven't been specifically optimized for a good watch experience. Additionally, not all apps support offline playback, and those that do often require subscriptions.
Samsung Galaxy Watches
If you have the Galaxy Watch 4 or Samsung's Watch 4 Classic, you can just skip to the Wear OS section below. The process is a bit different if you're still on a Tizen OS watch.
Spotify was one of the few partner apps available on Tizen Watches, but it hasn't been updated for a while. (And it probably won't be updated, given that Samsung has opted for Wear OS.) Users have complained in forums about a degraded experience, so we don't recommend using the app.
Many of Samsung's older Tizen watches — the Galaxy Watch 3, Galaxy Watch Active and Active 2, and Galaxy Watch, for example — have built-in storage so you can load music files directly into them.
How Android users can add music through the Galaxy Wearable app:
- Load the songs you want on your phone
- Tap Watch settings and then Manage content or Add content to your watch
- Tap Add Tracks
- Select the files you want, or tap All in the top left corner.
- Once you hit Done you can listen to music on your watch through the Music app.
iOS users must have an iPhone 6 or later running at least iOS 12:
- Load the songs you want on your phone
- Open the Galaxy Watch app
- Navigate to the Home tab at the bottom left
- Select Add content to your watch
Samsung supports MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG and WMA files. However, you cannot export music from streaming services such as Spotify or Google Play, which use encrypted files.
Wear OS Watches
If you have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic, it will be easy. These watches are the first (and so far, only) watches to run Wear OS 3. That means they have the Google Play Store right out of the box.
Right now, your top picks for apps are Spotify and YouTube Music, both of which support offline playback. (Although you must be a paid subscriber.) Android users can also follow the steps in the previous section to physically load music onto the watch. However, the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic do not support iOS.
Currently, non-Samsung Wear OS watches run Wear OS 2. It will stay that way until we get a new batch of Wear OS watches or Google finally releases the update later this year.
For a while, Wear OS 2 users didn't really have great options for listening to music after Google shut down Google Play Music. The Spotify app for Wear OS 2 isn't great either. It's more of a glorified remote control than a real music app. But now Google has finally brought YouTube Music to Wear OS 2. Keep in mind that you'll need a subscription and can only have offline downloads – no streaming.
To start:
- Navigate to the Google Play Store
- Download Youtube Music to your watch
- Sign in to your YouTube Music account
- Tap the song or playlist you want to download
- Tap the download icon
Fitbit
By far the easiest way to listen to music on a Fitbit smartwatch is to use Spotify, Deezer, or Pandora.
The Spotify app is more of a music control app. It doesn't support offline reading, so your phone must be nearby with the Fitbit app running in the background and connected to the internet. You also need a Spotify Premium account.
Pandora and Deezer come preloaded on Fitbit Ionic (which was recently recalled), Sense and Versa series (excluding Versa Lite). You must have a paid subscription to either service, as well as a Wi-Fi connection. Deezer users can download their playlists, while Pandora users can download their most played stations or the most popular training stations.
You can also use the Fitbit Connect app to transfer your own files to your device (the only exceptions are Fitbit Sense, Versa Lite Edition, and Versa 3). The app is free to download here – just scroll to the bottom of the page.
Fair warning: this is a tedious process described by Fitbit here under "How do I download playlists to my Fitbit watch?" » section. Once you expand this section, scroll down to the Mac or Windows drop-down menus to see step-by-step instructions.
Garmin
Currently, Garmin supports four major music streaming services: Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, and iHeartRadio. You can download all apps through the Connect IQ store. (Again, you'll need a subscription.) But once you've downloaded the app in question, navigate to your watch's music/media widget. From here you can select the service of your choice and you will be prompted to log in to your account. Once done, you can start syncing your music and playlists.
The majority of Garmin watches come with music storage; you can check the list . But as with Fitbits, loading your personal libraries onto the watch can be a tedious process. You'll need to download the to your computer and from there follow Garmin's detailed step-by-step instructions for Mac and Windows users on how to manage your music and audio files.
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