The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Our favourite apps to get downloaded to your Samsung smartwatch first
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Despite the arrival of the Samsung Gear Sport, the Samsung Gear S3 is still one of the best smartwatches you can get your hands on right now.

The Gear S3 Frontier and Classic watches have that wonderful rotating bezel, some solid sports tracking and health features and one of the most intuitive smartwatch operating systems in Tizen.

However, app support is not one of its strengths compared to other smartwatches, but things are slowly improving as Samsung rolls out regular software updates to improve its hulking Gear S3 smartwatch duo.

Hands on: Samsung Galaxy Watch review

While it might be slim pickings on the app front, we've managed to pick out the ones S3 owners need in their lives and will actually find useful on a daily basis.

Got any questions or thoughts about our selections? Hit us up in the comments section below.

Spotify

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Sorry, Apple Watch owners, the Gear S3 is the only smartwatch with an official Spotify app to allow you to enjoy music from your wrist through Wi-Fi or LTE.

You are free to browse through your playlists, charts and search for tracks on the app, with offline support for Android users also now in tow. This allows Premium users to listen to saved playlists even when not connected to an internet source.

Under Armour Connected Fitness Suite

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

With Samsung only offering basic Strava support, the third-party options for exercisers isn't all that strong. But with the recent Under Armour collaboration, the Gear S3 supports the Under Armour Connected Fitness suite - meaning you have access to apps like UA Record, MapMyRun, Endomondo, and MyFitnessPal.

This not only gives you a bit more choice when it comes to how you want to enjoy untethered GPS tracking and route viewing, but you can also keep tabs on your diet, too.

Uber

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

You know how it works by now, but the good news is that the S3's version of the cab-hailing app doesn't skimp on the features. The screen is big enough that dragging the marker to your chosen pickup location is easy, while the rotating bezel lets you zoom in and out of the map, and scroll through your choice of ride, be it a Pool, SUV or just a regular Uber X. It's the same deal as the S2 version - our favourite Uber smartwatch app around. Just be warned, this one is exclusive to those of you with Samsung phones.

Facer

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

If you're all about watch faces, then this is a download essential. After flexing its customisation skills on Wear, Facer is available for Samsung's Tizen-running smartwatches.

Essential reading: The best Samsung Gear S3 watch faces

You can pick from over 15,000 different watch faces specially designed for the Gear S3 or you can have a go at creating your own through the Facer Creator portal where you can add in any images, pick different fonts, watch hands and drop in your favourite watch widgets.

Nest

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

An unofficial app previously let you control your home from the wrist, but now Nest has unveiled its own app for you to enjoy.

This allows users who own the Nest Learning Thermostat to monitor temperature, set the device status to 'home' or 'away' and even control the heat through the watch's rotating bezel. Nifty.

Find My Car

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

You've taken the kids out to a theme park for the day. You left the car in car lot K, zone 4… you think. But it's dark now, the kids are cranky from their sugar comedown and you could spend days in this concrete hell. That is, unless you've used the Find my Car app, which marked the location when you arrived. You can also leave yourself a voice memo to remind yourself "Car is parked by red bollard" or "Never let the kids eat ice cream again".

Flipboard News briefing

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

One of our recommended Gear S2 apps makes a return as a pre-installed app on the S3, and again, it's a bit of a surprise hit. You might not think watches were made for reading news, but Flipboard makes it work well, distilling stories down to the need-to-know facts. You can then tap a button to open the full story on your phone should you want to dig into the meat of it.

Rolling Hams

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Twist the Gear's bezel to navigate through a series of increasingly challenging labyrinths. The levels are vibrant, the gameplay will keep you hooked, and it's a great showcase of what the Gear S3 can do which rivals cannot.

Glympse

The best Samsung Gear S3 appsGlympse's function is simple: let people know where you are. Say you're meeting friends in an unknown part of town, simply send them your GPS location through the app and they'll be able to get to you. The Gear app simply lets you do it faster. You can also request a friend's location by tapping a different icon. We likey.

Fruit Ninja

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Not the official version, but this replica is a surprisingly good fit on Samsung's watch, letting you command with a lot of precision. It can get a bit juddery now and then, but nothing that will spoil the endless fun of carving airborne watermelons. And it's free - fruity bonus.

Pear

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Sadly, the Nike+ app isn't likely to come to Gear due to Nike's partnership with Apple. To make matters worse, the selection of other running apps to choose from is woeful. Samsung Health isn't terrible, and is getting better, but if you want another option, Pear is free and works without your phone, offering audio coaching and tracking heart rate, distance and calories.

White Light

The simplest app on our list, but quite a useful one. White Light turns your S3 into a mini torch by turning the display white and upping the brightness to max. Useful in a moment where you need some light and don't want to fish out your phone. Unless you're someone who sensibly carries a torch with them. Weirdo.

Camera Gear

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Turn your S3 into a remote photo and video shooter. The app streams the image from either your phone's front or rear camera to your wrist, where you can remotely capture or set a timer. It also supports a flash mode.

BMW Connected

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

Running and listening to music is great, but sometimes you just want to feel like James Bond, right? Thankfully, if you're the owner of a compatible BMW vehicle, you can.

Read next: Top Samsung Gear S3 tips and tricks

The BMW Connected app allows you to lock/unlock doors, check how much fuel is left in the tank, view details of your next trip and, conveniently, check just where exactly the car is - all from your wrist.

Here WeGo

The best Samsung Gear S3 apps

If you're going to download a maps app on your S3, we recommend this one as we find Google Maps a bit too fiddly on the watch. You can set a route and have it cache to your watch, so you can continue to use it without your phone later on. Handy. This one's free, but if it's navigation you're looking for, Mobiteka's paid Gear Navigator Standalone app may also be up your street. Get it?




How we test



Michael Sawh

By

Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.

He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.

Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech. 

Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.


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