www.makeuseof.com How to Use YouTube Music on Your Android Smartwatch

If you use YouTube Music and own an Android smartwatch running Wear OS, you can directly use your wearable to listen to music without relying on your smartphone. This is possible thanks to the YouTube Music Wear OS app, which will allow you to download music on your smartwatch and stream directly to your Bluetooth earbuds or speakers.

The YouTube Music Wear OS app will be useful for anyone who frequently goes out hiking or running, as you can then eliminate the need for carrying your smartphone just for music playback.

The YouTube Music app from Google is available for smartwatches running Wear OS 2 and Wear OS 3. If you have any other smartwatch running LiteOS or Tizen OS, you cannot install the YouTube Music app on it.

How to Install the YouTube Music App on Your Android Smartwatch

1. Head over to the YouTube Music listing on the Play Store. Install the app on your Android device if you haven't already got it.
2. Now tap the Install button shown beside the name of your Android smartwatch under the Available on more devices section of the listing.

Wait for a few minutes, and then check the app drawer on your Wear OS smartwatch. The YouTube Music app should be installed on it.

Related: The Best Android Smartwatches

How to Use YouTube Music on Your Android Smartwatch

The first time you open the YouTube Music app on your Android smartwatch, you'll have to select the YouTube account you want to use with the service.

The Wear OS YouTube Music app will not recognize any other Google accounts you have signed into on your Android device. So, if your YouTube Music account is not linked to the primary Google account on your device, you will have to create your music library from scratch.

The Wear OS app does not automatically use the same account you are using in the YouTube Music app on your smartphone.

Even apart from that, several other limitations significantly limit the usefulness of the app. You can only use the YouTube Music app on your Android smartwatch to download and then stream music to a connected Bluetooth device.

It is not possible to use the app to stream music directly on your Android smartphone or any other connected Bluetooth speaker or even force it to play music through your smartwatch's speaker.

You cannot even use the YouTube Music app on your Android smartwatch to control music playback from YouTube Music on your Android device.

As for downloads, they happen over Wi-Fi when your Android smartwatch is charging, with all downloads being queued until then. If you have an LTE smartwatch, you can toggle the option to download music over mobile data. The amount of music you'll be able to download will depend on the internal storage of your smartwatch.

Apart from individual songs and albums, you can also download personalized playlists or mixes for offline playback. There's also a Smart Downloads feature that will automatically download anywhere between 50 to 500 songs, depending on your preference.

Once you do play music, you'll be able to control the volume, skip forward or go back, and like a song.

YouTube Music's Wear OS App Is Very Limited

Sadly, the YouTube Music app for Android smartwatches running Wear OS is very basic and severely limited in functionality. It is only good enough to stream music to your Bluetooth earbuds while you are out hiking or running, and that's about it. The app does not work in conjunction with the YouTube Music app on your Android device.

If you want a better music playback/controlling experience on your Android smartwatch, you can consider using Spotify as it has a better Wear OS app.

We'll show you how to play YouTube Music songs on your Google smart speaker.

Rajesh Pandey started following the tech field right around the time Android devices were going mainstream. He closely follows the latest development in the world of smartphones and what the tech giants are up to. He loves to tinker around with the latest gadgets to see what they are capable of.

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