Why I pair my Galaxy Watch with a Samsung smartphone

Samsung’s smartwatches (and the Galaxy Ring) fit with maximum Android telephones, however you’ll simplest get the total revel in when paired with Samsung Galaxy smartphones. This applies to older Galaxy Watch fashions as much as the newest Galaxy Watch 8 collection and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025. But what are those options, and are they price taking into consideration switching smartphones for?

There are many options, however just a few in point of fact make the partnership profitable, a minimum of for me. I don’t personal a Galaxy Ring, however I will be able to remark at the synergy between my Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy S24 FE. While maximum advantages are health-related, a number of ecosystem options make proudly owning Samsung merchandise extra horny and price taking into consideration.

I exploit my Galaxy Watch essentially as a health tracker, so I prioritize options that track fitness problems. Most health monitoring options are to be had throughout all Android telephones, together with fundamental middle price monitoring, step monitoring, sleep, and SpO2 insights. However, if you wish to use your wearable in particular to test your heartbeat or blood drive, you want to pair it with a Samsung smartphone and obtain the unique Samsung Health Monitor app. This app may be restricted to express markets, so test availability if those options are crucial to you.

Notably, the app allows the Galaxy Watch 4 and more recent fashions’ ECG features, or electrocardiogram, which samples your middle’s rhythm and provides steerage if it detects irregularities. Thankfully, my middle’s nonetheless robust, however I frequently use this option once I really feel strangely drained or wired.

Health Monitor additionally unlocks the Galaxy Watch collection’ blood drive tracking characteristic, which calls for calibration with a standalone track ahead of use. This characteristic is superb for fast checkups if you happen to’re clear of house with no devoted track.

Other Galaxy Watch options that require a Samsung smartphone come with pressure reminders, sleep apnea tracking, and Energy Score perception.

Sleep apnea tracking samples your respiring and middle price rhythm at evening, checking for any regarding dips in blood oxygen ranges. It then supplies additional steerage. I exploit this option a couple of instances a yr, and it provides nice perception into my total sleep fitness.

Energy Score perception provides AI-powered context for your Energy Score — a determine that quantifies your day-to-day readiness in line with earlier task and relaxation. Energy Score works with no Samsung telephone, however you’ll simplest get the quantity and now not a lot else.

Several new Galaxy Watch fitness monitoring options aren’t unique to Samsung smartphones however are to be had in more recent variations of One UI Watch. This contains Vascular Load, Antioxidant Index, Running Coach, and Bedtime Guidance.

I agree, the consistent chatter about AI can also be traumatic, however Galaxy AI at the Galaxy Watch is reasonably useful. I’ve highlighted the way it allows some fitness options at the wearable, however it’s additionally discovered in additional common programs. Samsung’s use of AI isn’t in particular intrusive and improves the revel in of a number of options and apps at the small display. Notably, Galaxy AI options require the watch to be paired with a suitable Samsung smartphone.

So what are those options? One that I to find in particular helpful is Smart Replies, which gives context-aware reaction choices to messages despatched by the use of a messaging app. While this option is to be had via Samsung Messages, it additionally works smartly with WhatsApp and Google Messages.

Believe it or now not, Samsung’s incessantly criticized voice assistant is in truth reasonably just right. I ditched Google Gemini for every week to make use of Bixby solely, and I loved it. Its availability throughout each the Galaxy Watch and Samsung smartphones makes pairing the 2 gadgets profitable.

I to find that Bixby triggers settings sooner on those gadgets than Gemini, making it a greater application for controlling your instrument for your wrist. I exploit it to set timers, alter alarms, and get started workouts. Tapping the Bixby button and speaking to my watch is incessantly more straightforward than scrolling throughout its tiny show to faucet a fair smaller button.

I wouldn’t imagine the voice assistant higher than Gemini for on-line duties. Google’s product continues to be higher for the rest you want fetched from the internet. But, individually, I most often use my telephone for those duties. You can use each for your watch the use of other wake phrases or bodily shortcuts for every.

Modes and Routines are a core a part of my virtual existence that I couldn’t consider dwelling with out them. This is possibly the only characteristic I’d leave out maximum if I separated my Galaxy Watch and Galaxy telephone. In brief, Modes and Routines permit me to cause particular settings conditionally, in line with location, time of day, or hooked up community. But that is simply skimming the skin.

In some other article, I elaborated at the quite a lot of makes use of of Modes and Routines, together with activating power-saving mode on my watch once I don’t want all its options, flipping via watch faces mechanically, or making complete use of my telephone’s Driving mode to make content material on my watch extra legible. There are quite a lot of integrations imaginable with this software.

Some modes cause mechanically, too. A Samsung smartphone and Galaxy Watch may also sync different settings with one some other, together with alarms (by the use of Sleep mode) and Do Not Disturb standing.

I’ll admit, that is one quirky explanation why to pair a Samsung smartphone with a Galaxy Watch, however I’ve grown to find it irresistible. Using a tripod for smartphone pictures is a boon, particularly if you wish to seize midnight photographs with out jittering the instrument’s {hardware}. In those circumstances, the digital camera keep an eye on characteristic is handy.

Annoyingly, it doesn’t beef up particular digital camera modes that may make it in actuality useful, like Slow Motion or Hyperlapse. Nevertheless, I’ve used this option greater than I assumed I’d.

As the Galaxy Ring lacks a display, you can’t use it to keep an eye on the digital camera of your Galaxy telephone or any Android telephone.

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While a few of these options have workarounds or possible choices, most of the above options in actuality make stronger the Galaxy Watch and Ring revel in. I wouldn’t counsel you rush out and buy a Samsung telephone nowadays if you happen to personal a Galaxy Watch, however it’s one thing to imagine going ahead. As Samsung continues creating extra Galaxy AI-heavy options that require its smartphone {hardware}, don’t be shocked to look extra options locked in the back of its walled lawn.