Spotify Announces Standalone App For Wear OS Smartwatches

Spotify has finally announced a standalone app for Wear OS smartwatches. The new Spotify Wear OS app makes it possible for users to continue to listen, browse and control music playback without opening their smartphones.

“With Spotify on your Wear OS by Google smartwatch, you no longer need to reach for your phone to access your Discover Weekly playlist,” Spotify said on its blog. “Imagine a run through the park without fumbling to adjust the smartphone on your armband case to play, pause, or skip to the next track. Switching to a song that matches your mood and the tempo of your jog is now as easy as starting your stopwatch.”

The Spotify app for Wear OS will also let users add songs to their playlists and browse their saved songs and other playlists, according to Android Authority. The app also features Spotify Connect, which means that users will be able to control music playback on their Wear OS device if they’re playing tracks through a set of connected speakers.

“The new integration also makes it easier to access to your recently played songs, even with your phone in your pocket. Plus, if you find a new favorite track while on the go, just tap the heart icon on your watch screen to save it to your collection,” Spotify said.

The only feature that’s still not available on the Spotify Wear OS app is the ability to download and save songs to the smartwatch for offline listening. Most Wear OS smartwatches have internal storage of around 4GB, so in theory, it should be possible. Smartwatches also have Bluetooth, which means that downloaded songs could be transferred from a smartphone.

Even if this feature is not available yet, Spotify could add it in future software updates. However, that’s pure speculation at this point. For now, at least Wear OS users have a more convenient way of listening to songs on Spotify. The Spotify Wear OS app isn’t available yet, but it should be be released sometime later this week, according to Engadget. It’s also important to note that the app will use any available connectivity in order to work, like Wi-Fi, LTE or Bluetooth.

In addition to announcing the standalone Wear OS app, Spotify also revealed that it has partnered with Fossil Group. Starting in November, the Spotify Wear OS app will be automatically installed on all Fossil Gen 4 smartwatches, including the Michael Kors Access Runway models.