Google has launched much-awaited YouTube Music for smartwatches. The app is now available on the Play Store for download on Wear OS. But the app comes with major limitations.
After Google ditched the Play Music app and replaced it with YouTube Music a year ago, Wear OS had no official music app. However, the smartwatch owners will be delighted that the official music app is now available to store their playlists on the wearable gadget.
YouTube Music allows users access to all the playlists and playback controls. The best feature of the app is offline music storage which lets the smartwatch control playback to Bluetooth headphones. This means you can connect to any Bluetooth device to play music without relying on a smartphone.
YouTube Music On Wear OS Features
Upon its launch, it shows a sign-in screen. You can select your YouTube account on the watch. Remember, it only accepts one account for syncing with the paired smartphone.
After you sign in, you will see Downloads, Recommended, and Library, common music categories. The Download section will be empty and to download music for offline use, you need to tap on a playlist or mix. This will bring a Download button. Remember, downloading music is only possible when the watch is on a charger.
You can tweak Smart Downloads in the Setting, which lets you download 50 to 100 songs depending on the storage available. You can also rid of explicit content from Restricted Mode.
The Wear OS version urges users to play music with a Bluetooth device. But the app will also play music when such a device fails to play music. 9to5Google reports that it is not possible to play music “without a Bluetooth audio device of some kind connected” which indicates the app’s limited functions.
Availability
YouTube Music for Wear OS may excite everybody but it doesn’t have all the good news for you. The music app is not universal and will support only a handful of devices.
9to5Google has noticed that the app works only on Google’s Wear OS 3 system. As far as it is reported, Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 which hit the market on August 27 are the only devices in line to get the OS. This means the YouTube Music app is compatible exclusively with Samsung’s smartwatches for the time being.
YouTube Music on Wear OS comes with limited capabilities but a lot is yet to be known about it. When we have more on it, we will keep our readers updated.
Do you listen to music on your smartwatches? How do you rate its performance? You can share your input below in the comments section.
