Wear OS 4 is finally here, released to all compatible Android watches, including the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and the Google Pixel Watch. It’s a nice upgrade, with improvements to get longer battery life, the possibility of more watch face types, and better compatibility with your phone.

But when there’s a big Wear OS upgrade, users sometimes run into problems. New releases can be haunted by bugs and compatibility issues that take a while to smooth out or by problems that affect usability. That can lead to major headaches, but we have solutions to help. Our troubleshooting guide takes you through common Wear OS woes (no matter which version you have) and the steps that can improve your situation. Let’s start with a common voice command issue.

The ‘OK Google’ command is not working

Google Assistant is an integral part of the Wear OS experience. Instead of dealing with your smartwatch’s small screen, you can use Google Assistant commands to get the job done.

Many have noticed that the “OK Google” command does not trigger the Google Assistant on the watch face. You can reboot your smartwatch and fix the issue.

1. Open Settings on your watch.
2. Select System.
3. Tap Restart from the following menu.

4. Tap the green checkmark to confirm your decision.

5. Restart your phone. Keep pressing the power and volume up buttons and select Restart from the Power menu.

If you still face issues with the “OK Google” command, clear the Google Play Services cache on the watch and try again.

1. Open Settings and select Apps & notifications.
2. Select See All Apps and tap Google Play Services.

3. Open Storage and select Clear cache from the following menu.

My smartwatch battery is draining quickly

Wear OS smartwatches have never been a battery champ. It stays true for the latest Pixel Watch. If you keep a high display brightness, set live watch faces, or install unnecessary apps, your smartwatch will run out of juice by evening. Here are some tips to improve the battery life on Wear OS.

Adjust screen brightness

Open Settings on your watch and select Display. Tap Adjust brightness and choose how bright your screen should be.

Try another watch face

Watch faces with animations and interactive abilities drain your Wear OS watch battery quickly. Select a simple watch face, and if your Wear OS device has an AMOLED screen, pick a dark or black watch face for better battery life.

Turn off irrelevant notifications

Getting hundreds of notifications throughout the day takes a toll on your watch’s battery life. To get around this, turn off unnecessary app notifications.

1. Open Settings and select Apps notifications.
2. Tap Show all.

3. Turn off real-time alerts for irrelevant apps.

You can also tweak notification categories to receive important alerts only.

Check detailed battery info

You can use your watch’s companion app to check detailed battery stats. First, ensure your watch is connected to your phone and follow the steps below.

1. Open the Wear OS app or the companion app for your smartwatch.
2. Select Advanced settings.
3. Tap Watch battery.

You can check which apps use your watch’s battery, find the estimated battery life, and view a battery life chart.

Deactivate the always-on screen

Turning off the always-on screen is another handy way to stretch your watch’s battery life.

1. Open Advanced settings on the Wear OS app (refer to the steps above).
2. Turn off the Always-on screen toggle.

3. From now on, you’ll tap your watch display to check the time.

Wi-Fi connectivity is spotty on my Wear OS device.

Wi-Fi connectivity glitches can leave you in confusion. If your Wear OS device supports Wi-Fi, follow the steps below to fix it.

1. Update the Wear OS app from the Google Play Store.
2. Open the Wear OS app and go to Advanced settings.
3. Tap Privacy & personal data.
4. Turn on the Cloud sync toggle.

It syncs data between your phone and your watch over Wi-Fi or the watch’s mobile network.

1. Open Settings on your Wear OS watch and select Wi-Fi.
2. Set Wi-Fi to Automatic.

3. Your watch won’t have a problem connecting to a Wi-Fi network.

I can’t download Wear OS apps

Google’s Wear OS has one of the best third-party apps support. But it’s irrelevant when you fail to download apps in the first place. You can temporarily activate Airplane mode, turn it off after some time, and try downloading apps again.

If you still face issues with app downloads, reconnect the Wear OS device with your phone.

1. Open the Wear OS app on your Android phone.
2. Select the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap disconnect watch.

4. Connect your watch again from the same menu.

You can also clear the cache for Google Play Services (refer to the steps above) and download Wear OS apps without any issues.

If you have a Wear OS-powered Galaxy smartwatch, go through the steps below to reconnect Watch 4 or Watch 5 with your phone.

1. Launch the Galaxy Wearable app on your Android phone.
2. Tap the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner.
3. Check your Galaxy smartwatch and disconnect it.

My smartwatch disconnects from my phone

Try the tricks below if your watch doesn’t stay connected to your phone.

Check Bluetooth on the phone

First, make sure you have an active Bluetooth connection on your phone.

1. Swipe up and open the app drawer menu.
2. Open the Settings menu (the one with a gear icon).
3. Go to Connected devices > Connection preferences.

4. Tap Bluetooth and turn on the toggle.

Turn off Airplane mode on the Wear OS device

An active Airplane mode suspends network connectivity on your smartwatch. Swipe down from your watch face and turn off Airplane mode. You should also restart your smartwatch (refer to the steps in the first section) to fix network glitches.

Reset your watch to factory settings

First, reconnect your smartwatch with your phone (refer to the steps above). If you still face frequent connection issues, it’s time to reset your Wear OS device.

1. Open Settings and select the System menu.
2. Tap Disconnect & reset. Unpairing your watch factory resets the watch settings and deletes all user data.

3. Confirm your decision and set up your smartwatch from scratch.

I’m having problems with notifications on Wear OS

Notification issues on Wear OS defeat the purpose of using a smartwatch. You won’t want to pull out your phone constantly to check the latest alerts. To fix the issue, reboot your watch (refer to the steps above) and keep it connected to your smartphone.

Turn off Cinema mode

Wear OS comes with Cinema mode to turn off the display and turn off notifications. If you forget to deactivate Cinema mode, notifications don’t appear. Swipe down from the top and turn off Cinema mode on your watch.

Check app notification settings

Do you face notification issues with a specific app? It’s time to go to the Wear OS settings and allow notification permission for relevant apps.

1. Open Wear OS Settings.
2. Select Apps notifications.
3. Tap Show all.

4. Turn on notification permission for your preferred apps.

Check internet connectivity on your phone

If your connected phone faces network issues, you don’t get real-time notifications on your phone (and your smartwatch). You can open any website to confirm an active internet connection. If you frequently run into network glitches, reset the network settings and try again.

If none of these tricks work, reset your watch to factory settings (check the section above).

Check notification settings on your Android phone

You must allow lock screen notifications on your Android phone to receive alerts on your connected smartwatch.

1. Swipe up from the Android phone home screen to open the app drawer menu.
2. Open Settings.
3. Select Notifications.
4. Tap Notifications on lock screen.

5. Select the radio button beside Show conversations, default, and silent.

Remove old Bluetooth profiles

You should remove previously connected smartwatches from your phone’s Settings menu.

1. Open Settings on your Android phone (check the steps above).
2. Select Connected devices and tap See all.

3. Tap the gear icon beside an old device and select Forget or Unpair.

Wear OS keeps crashing on my smartwatch

If your Wear OS watch suddenly freezes, goes blank, and shuts down, you may have a problem. A crash once or twice, especially after downloading a new version of Wear OS, isn’t a surprise. But if it keeps happening over and over, it’s time to do something about it. The best approach is a full wipe of the watch.

1. On your smartwatch, go to your settings and find the Reset option. For example, go to Settings > System > Disconnect & reset. There should be a similar option no matter what kind of watch you have.
2. After you reset the watch (don’t start it again), go to your phone settings and disconnect the watch from your Bluetooth. Now open the Wear OS app on your phone.
3. Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > See all apps. You’ll visit three app categories in this section: Wear OS by Google, Google, and Google Play services. In each section, choose the Storage option and select the option to Clear data.
4. Reboot your phone entirely. When it finishes rebooting, open the Wear OS app and log in again if necessary. Pair Bluetooth with your app again, and start over. This can remove internal issues that caused the crashes.

My Wear OS watch doesn’t connect to my car

Suppose you have a smartwatch that can connect to your car’s dashboard infotainment system via Bluetooth. In that case, you may run into a problem, especially if you recently updated Wear OS or recently started using a new device with your watch. Your watch may refuse to connect or recognize the car kit it’s supposed to work with. This problem is usually easy to handle.

1. Update Wear OS and your car’s infotainment system (it typically needs to be in the range of Wi-Fi to do this). See if this fixes the problem.
2. If connection issues persist, go to Settings > Bluetooth. Your Wear OS is probably getting your car confused with other methods of taking calls.
3. Select your car from the Bluetooth list to properly pair.
4. Sometimes, Wear OS is good at recognizing and connecting to your car after this. Other times, you may have to connect every time you’re in the car.

I can’t send messages directly from my Wear OS watch

Some Wear OS watches can send text messages from the watch without using a phone as a medium. If you have this capability on your watch and a working data plan or other setup, the capability can suddenly stop working, so your messages fail to send.

When this happens, it’s usually because the watch automatically connects to your phone over Bluetooth. A watch’s network can’t send a message if the watch is connected with a phone. You need to disconnect Bluetooth and try again.

Many watches automatically connect to phones out of convenience, so this can become annoying. One option is to visit Settings > Connections > Mobile Network or Data Plan. Look for an option to always leave this connection turned on. But be warned: This can use up battery life and data on your plan.

Image transfer doesn’t work properly

This problem plagued Samsung Galaxy Watch users upon downloading Wear OS 4. Many used their watches to transfer images for customization, sharing, and other work. It’s a process you only want to do when you have plenty of battery power and are close to your Samsung phone so that nothing goes wrong.

This bug keeps bringing up the “Image transfer” notification with no relation to images actually transferring. It can keep popping up over and over after an image transfer has been completed. This appears to waste battery life, and users can’t be sure if the transfer is finished until they check. It also interrupts all other Watch activities.

If you experience this issue, delete the successfully transferred photo and restart your Galaxy Watch. For many users, this stops the problem. If you don’t have images on your Watch, transfer one over for the purpose of deleting it to see if this helps.

Otherwise, update your Galaxy Watch when new updates are available and wait for a bug fix. Until that happens, you may want to avoid transferring image files to your Watch.

Make your Wear OS experience even better

Unusual battery drain, real-time notifications not working, and network glitches on your Wear OS smartwatch may frustrate you. Revisit this post when you run into Wear OS problems. If you are new to Google’s smartwatch platform, read our dedicated post to learn the best Wear OS tips and tricks.