If you have a new Galaxy Watch 6 (or Watch 5/Watch 4) on your wrist, discovering its hidden tricks and features will help you understand it to the fullest.
Google's Wear OS 3 software is relatively intuitive to navigate around, but there are still plenty of things that aren't immediately obvious - especially if you're new to Samsung smartwatches.
That can even extend to really basic things, such as turning it off, rearranging apps, or performing a soft reset. And that's where this guide can help.
Make your favorite watch faces more useful by adding complications.
Complications are a watchmaking term, for any piece of information added to the watch face. In the old days, this would usually be the date. But in smartwatch terms, this could be heart rate, weather, barometer info, world time, or even quick links to your favorite apps.
To add a complication just long press on a watch face and choose Customize.
Swipe right to Complications (if it's not present then that watch face doesn't support them) and choose a spot on the watch face. You can tap existing complications or blank spots.
You can then choose a data point from a huge list of existing complications.
While, bafflingly, the Galaxy Watch 6 doesn't track temperature for medical or wellness purposes, you can immerse it in water or point it at surfaces to test the temperature.
Great uses would be testing baby bath water or food for added peace of mind.
Go to the app menu > hit the thermometer icon. You'll also need to take the watch off your wrist.
Now choose Living or Water. Living means you can point the watch at things to estimate their temperature, while water is designed to submerge the watch to do the same.
Make the watch feel faster
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You can adjust the speed of animations, which will make your whole Galaxy Watch feel faster and snappier.
Go to Settings > About Watch > Software information. Find Software Version and then tap on it multiple times quickly. This will enable Developer Mode.
Go to Settings > Developer options scroll down to Animation Scale and change this to 0.5x.
This will reduce the time of animations, make apps load quicker, and generally improve the responsiveness of the whole Galaxy Watch experience.
How to turn on the always-on display mode
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Out of the box, the Galaxy Watch doesn't have the always-on screen mode enabled. If you want to check in on the time at all times, you need to do the following:
Swipe down from the main watch screen to reveal the quick settings.
1. Tap the cog to open settings.
2. Scroll down to Display and search for the Always on Display option, then tap to enable.
Once this is done, you'll be able to view the home screen without having to raise it to wake it up.
Organize the quick settings
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A great alternative to laboring through menus, the Galaxy Watch's quick settings are really handy when you want to make easy adjustments to core features.
It's here where you can find things like the do-not-disturb mode, the flashlight, and the screen brightness slider. You also have control over what settings are shown here and where they live.
To re-arrange the Galaxy Watch's quick settings:
1. After bringing up the quick settings by swiping from the home screen, tap and press an icon and keep your finger on the icon to drag it to another position. Alternatively, you can choose to remove the setting icon selected, and it'll be replaced by a new one.
2. If you want to add a new setting, swipe left to get to the last screen and hit the '+' icon to add a new shortcut setting.
Connect to exercise machines
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The Galaxy Watch is capable of being wirelessly connected to compatible exercise equipment - similar to how the Apple Watch can through its GymKit platform.
This way, you can use the onboard heart rate sensor alongside data from machines like treadmills for a more comprehensive overview of your workout.
To do this, you need to:
1. Go to the Samsung Health app on your Watch.
2. Scroll down to 'Settings', then 'Connected services'.
3. Tap the toggle next to 'Heart rate to transmit heart rate data'.
4. You can additionally choose to use your 'Profile (height, weight, gender)' during this mode to better estimate calorie burn.
Connect the Galaxy Watch to TVs
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To connect the Galaxy Watch to a Samsung TV:
1. Go to the Samsung Health app on your Watch.
2. Scroll down to 'Settings'.
3. Scroll down to 'Connected services' and select 'TV'
4. Tap the toggle button to show heart rate and calorie burn on your TV.
How to turn off continuous heart rate monitoring
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If you're not particularly fussed about keeping close tabs on your heart rate, there is a way to turn that continuous monitoring off. This will likely give battery life a boost, too.
To adjust heart rate monitoring settings on the Galaxy Watch:
1. Go to the Samsung Health app on your Watch.
2. Scroll to 'Settings', then tap 'Measurement'.
3. You now have the option to switch to monitoring HR every 10 minutes while still, or you can select the manual monitoring option.
You have the same option for stress monitoring, too, which uses heart rate variability measurements. Again, changing the setting here will positively impact battery life.
Check how much battery life you have left
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Handily, you can view battery percentage simply by swiping down from the main watch screen.
However, Samsung also adds a battery screen where you can see an estimate of battery life in days - and also see the difference in battery life if you were to turn to the power saving mode.
To check the battery life of the Galaxy Watch:
1. Swipe down from the main watch screen to view quick settings and tap the cog icon to open 'Settings'.
2. Scroll to 'Battery' and you can see that battery life estimate in full smartwatch mode, along with an estimate if you choose to switch to that power saving mode.
Change your goals
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Whether you're smashing your daily step counts targets or you want to decrease the time you get a sweat on, there's a really easy way to change your Activity targets.
Here's what you need to do to change targets:
1. Swipe left from the main watch screen and locate the Activity Tile (heart-shaped icon).
2. Tap on the Tile and scroll down to 'Set targets'.
3. From here you can adjust 'Steps', 'Active time', and 'Activity calorie targets'.
Turn on automatic exercise detection
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Samsung supports the ability to automatically track a range of exercises including running, indoor rowing, and stepping up onto the elliptical machine.
You can additionally automatically record your location when it detects you're walking or running.
To enable this feature, go to the Samsung Health app and go to 'Settings'. Select Auto-detect workouts and you'll be able to enable tracking for the five different support activities, along with the location recording.
Keep your Samsung apps updated
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If you want to quickly check if you're running the latest version of Samsung's apps, like Health and Bixby, there's a way to see if there are any app updates available.
To check if your Samsung apps are updated, go to 'Settings' and then select 'Apps'.
Scroll down to Samsung app updates. If an update is available, it will show up offering you the option to update.
Change the font size
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If you're finding it difficult to absorb data screens or would prefer to text to look a bit larger (or smaller), you do have the ability to adjust the font size on the Galaxy Watch.
1. Go to 'Settings' and then select 'Accessibility'.
2. Select 'Visibility enhancements' and then 'Font size' - you can pick from small, medium, and large font sizes.
Use gesture controls for handling calls
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There are a couple of ways to interact with the Galaxy Watch without having to press a button or tap that touchscreen display.
When the phone starts to ring, there are two gestures you can enable to answer or dismiss. To turn these gestures on:
1. Go to 'Settings' and then 'Advanced features'.
2. Scroll to 'Gestures' and look for 'Answer calls and dismiss alerts and calls'. Tap to turn on each gesture.
Turn off all sounds
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Samsung gives you the option to drown out all the noise including alerts and tones, which is ideal if you want to enjoy a quiet smartwatch experience.
To turn off all the sounds on the Galaxy Watch:
1. Go to 'Settings' and then select 'Accessibility'.
2. Next, tap 'Hearing enhancements' and tap the toggle next to 'Mute all sounds'.
Check your storage
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For those taking full advantage of piling apps, photos, and music onto their Galaxy Watch, there is a way to see how much storage you've got to play with.
To view storage space on your Galaxy Watch:
1. Go to 'Settings' and then 'About Watch'.
2. Tap 'Storage' and you'll see available space along with how much space is taken up by images, audio, apps, and watch faces.
View media controls
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Being able to control the music playing back on your smartphone is one of the great things about having a smartwatch.
The Galaxy Watch supports this feature, though you might find it's disabled out of the box.
To turn on media controls, do the following:
1. Go to 'Settings' and then 'Display'.
2. Scroll to find 'Show media controls' and tap to turn those controls on.
Enable power saving and watch-only modes
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With the Galaxy Watch, you're playing with around a couple of days of battery life, but there are ways to make sure you enjoy the maximum battery life between charges.
You can turn on the power saving mode, which isn't as restrictive as it sounds and does still give you access to most of the critical features.
The watch-only mode, on the other hand, keeps things basic and will let you only view the time.
To turn these modes on:
1. Go to 'Settings' and then 'Battery'.
2. From here, you can view watch-only and power-saving modes, with the latter letting you see how much extra battery you can expect compared to normal battery mode.
Hear notifications read out to you
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This is a useful feature if you've got a pair of Bluetooth headphones hooked up to your watch and don't have easy access to the screen to see your notifications.
To get notifications read out to you, simply go to 'Settings' and then 'Notifications' scroll down to 'Read notifications aloud', and tap to turn on this feature.
Change the button controls
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You do have the ability to change what the physical home and back buttons are capable of controlling.
With the top home key, you can alternatively double-press it to open any of your installed apps.
The back key can be used to let you quickly view the most recent apps.
To access these controls:
1. Go to 'Settings' and then 'Advanced features'.
2. Next, select 'Customise keys' and you'll now be able to assign those new controls.
Turn on snore detection
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The Galaxy Watch devices offer a couple of features that help deliver a rich sleep-tracking experience.
That includes monitoring blood oxygen levels, and the ability to detect when you've been snoring during sleep, too.
You might find you'll need to turn these additional features on first to start tracking them.
Here's how to turn on the Galaxy Watch's snore detection:
1. Go to the Samsung Health app and then select 'Settings'.
2. Tap 'Measurement' and then select 'Snore detection'.
Rearrange and edit Tiles
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For the uninitiated, Tiles in Wear OS are widgets that provide a handy shortcut into a third-party app.
You can swipe left from the main watch screen to view them. You can also tinker with where those Tiles live, and even edit what some Tiles can display.
To rearrange Tiles on the Galaxy Watch:
1. Swipe to a Tiles screen and tap and hold.
2. Continue to hold and drag it into a new position.
View exercise history
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The Galaxy Watch packs a lot of sports modes, and, if you want to check in on your exercise history, there's thankfully a really quick and easy way to look back at your sessions.
To view exercise history on the Galaxy Watch:
1. Go to the Samsung Health app and scroll to exercise history.
2. From here, you can drill into each workout and see all of your metrics. So for runs, you'll also be able to view the advanced running metrics, for example.
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.
