Purchasing a smartwatch is a significant investment, and before spending hundreds of dollars, you want to be sure you’re making the right choice. A big part of that is ensuring the smartwatch you buy is compatible with your phone. As good as they are, if you own a Google Pixel Phone, an Apple watch is pretty much out of the question because they don’t play well with Android phones and are basically useless without an iPhone. That means, for many Pixel phone users, the Samsung Galaxy Watch is one of the best options. Where once upon a time, Wear OS watches had a hard time competing with the Apple Watch in terms of features and functionality, wearables like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 have closed the gap, bringing users an experience that is just as good as, and some might argue better, than their Apple counterparts.
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Since Samsung produces devices that run Android, it seems like a given that its watches would work with Pixel phones, and if you’re looking for a smartwatch to pair with a Google Pixel 9 phone, a Samsung watch might appear to be an obvious choice. But you’ll probably have some questions about how well these two brands work together. And you wouldn’t be wrong to ask. While Samsung watches are, for the most part, compatible with Google Pixel Phones, some of the watch’s features will only work with Samsung phones. Whether that’s a dealbreaker for you will depend on what you want to get out of your smartwatch.
Samsung watch features you can’t use on a Google Pixel Phone
Pixel phones will generally work with smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Ultra, but there are a few important caveats. For starters, you’ll need to download the Galaxy Wearable app to pair it to your Pixel phone and the Samsung Health app to take advantage of some of its health features. Even with those apps installed, several features are walled off and only available to users with a Samsung phone.
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If one of your main motivations for buying a Samsung Galaxy watch is to monitor your health metrics, you’ll need the Samsung Health Monitor app (different from the Samsung Health app) to keep track of things like your blood pressure, record an EKG, or receive irregular heart rhythm notifications. This isn’t officially available for the Pixel line of phones, but it’s possible to side-load the app to non-Samsung phones if you’re up for the extra effort.
Another biggie for many Pixel phone users thinking about purchasing a Samsung smartwatch is the inability to sync do-not-disturb and Sleep mode settings. You’ll have to set up these modes separately on each device. For those looking forward to using the Samsung watch’s Camera Controller app, unfortunately, that feature isn’t available for Pixel Phone users either. While it is unquestionably easier to use a Pixel Phone with a Google Pixel Watch, if you can make do without a few features, a Samsung watch can be a good option, too.
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