Is the Galaxy Watch 4 compatible with non-Samsung phones?

We'll find out how limited the galaxy watch 4 or 4 classic is when connected to a non-Samsung Android device in today's article. 

The good news is that when connected to a non-Samsung phone, you get the vast majority of Galaxy Watch 4 features, including Samsung Pay, Bixby, all Samsung Health workouts, and even the Galaxy Buds controller. 

If you have a pair of galaxy buds connected to a non-Samsung Android phone, I'll just cover everything that you don't get when connected to a non-Samsung Android device, and you can just assume that all of the other features are available. 

Also, keep in mind that some of these missing features may be added in a future update, but don't expect that to happen anytime soon.

Missing apps when Galaxy Watch 4 is compatible with non-Samsung phones

The first thing I'd like to discuss are the missing applications, of which there are two. If you swipe up to reveal all of your applications and scroll down, one of the first things you'll notice is that there is no messaging application installed. 

That's a significant issue because you can't reply to messages from your watch without a messaging app. Fortunately, there is a messaging app that you can download, and it's Google's own messaging app.

So, if you open the Play Store app, tap the search icon, then tap the keyboard, and type in messages, you'll get Google Messages right here, just called messages. tap that, then install

Once installed, you'll be able to not only reply to messages that come in, but also start new messages right from your watch. 

One important thing to note is that this messenger app only works if your phone's default messenger is the Google messages app, which is the case with most non-Samsung Android phones anyway compared to the messages app that comes with Samsung phones.

There are two limitations when connected to a Samsung device. You do not have the option to send an audio message, nor do you have the option to quickly open the message on your phone; however, you do have access to all of the same messaging features.

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Also, because the built-in keyboard option is only t9 text, which is difficult to use and takes a long time to send any message at all, I highly recommend that you download the gboard keyboard application as well. 

To install this, return to the Play Store, tap the search icon, and search for gboard again. Now, simply tap gboard and install it. Once installed, you must set it as the default keyboard.

So, returning to the watch face, swipe up to see all of your applications, then tap the settings app, scroll down until you find general, and tap that. 

Then scroll down a little further and tap input, then keyboard list, default, default keyboard, and switch to gboard now if I go back into the messages app and open up the keyboard. 

The only other missing application is a camera control application, which fortunately I did find an excellent camera application that offers tons of features to control your camera right from your wrist.

Let's return to the Play Store and use the search function to look for camera 1. I'm going to go ahead and select and install this application; once installed, simply open it and there's a preview of my Pixel 5's camera. 

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So it's currently in portrait mode, but if I tilt my camera, it'll switch to landscape mode, and then I can just tap to take a picture or tap to start recording a video. When I'm done recording, I can either pause the video and then resume recording later, or I can stop the video.

If I pick up the phone here, you'll see that I'm now using the front-facing camera and I'm going to keep using the front-facing camera for now just so you can see the icons a little bit better you get a power saving option that turns off the preview and turns the buttons into just circles.

You can use a timer to take a photo and get the same video and picture options. This speaker icon causes all audio recorded with the phone to play through the watch's speakers. 

If you tap the three dots, you'll be able to change a variety of settings, including the layout of the interface, picture size, and video type, which varies depending on the camera you're using. 

So right now I'm using the front camera, which can only record in full HD, but if I go back into the settings and switch to the rear cameras, you can see that I now have the option to film in 4k.

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If I scroll all the way down, I can even start time lapses and high speed video. I can also adjust how long the timer runs for, change the favorite button function, and even change the back button action to do things like take a photo, start or continue video or audio recording, and even start or cancel the self timer. 

Missing features within some of the applications

Now, let's look at some of the missing features within some of the applications. To begin, with Samsung Health, you do get the daily activity tracker, steps tracker, and all of the exercise that you can track when connected to a Samsung device.

You can also track sleep monitoring when connected to a non-Samsung Android device. heart rate monitoring measurements of stress Measurements of blood oxygen and even body composition. 

You can also track your food and water intake and compete with others to see who is exercising the most. If you are actively competing with someone, it will show you who is in the lead.

You can also keep track of your cycle. Unfortunately, you still lack two features. The ability to measure an ecg and blood pressure are not available because you need to have the Samsung health monitor app, which is currently only available on Samsung devices.

I tried side loading the apk on my pixel 5, but it just resulted in the app crashing before I could set anything up. 

Fortunately, there is a way to get the ecg monitor to work on non-samsung devices, but it takes a lot of work and is currently very buggy. The people at xda developers have modified the samsung health monitor app to work on non-samsung devices.

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Anyway, the specific missing bixby feature is that there is no bixby capsule store on non-Samsung Android devices. Simply put, capsules are plug-ins that extend bixby's functionality. 

If you're familiar with Amazon Alexa, bixby capsules are equivalent to Alexa skills. For the time being, you can only browse through these on a Samsung device using the bixby capsule marketplace.

There are a ton to choose from, but thankfully I did find a way to get these installed on your galaxy watch 4 even if it's connected to a non-Samsung android device, and it's actually really simple as long as you know the name of the capsule you want to install, such as "I want to install this copycat capsule."

All I have to do is activate Bixby on my watch and say ask copycat a question, and the copycat capsule will be added to my Galaxy Watch 4, which is linked to my Pixel 5. 

To see which capsules you have installed on your non-Samsung Android device, open the galaxy wearable application, tap apps, and then tap app settings. Tap Bixby, then tap My Capsules to see a list of all the capsules.

you currently have installed, and you can't access this massive list of capsules when connected to a non-Samsung Android device, and there are far too many capsules for me to share them all. This list goes on and on, but if you have a friend with a Samsung device, you can ask them to let you browse through the capsules on their phone. 

One capsule that I do highly recommend, and which I discussed in detail in my bixby review of the galaxy watch 4 classic, is a capsule called my brain. 

If you go to settings, then notification settings, and scroll down to the bottom, you'll notice that when you're connected to a Samsung device, you have the option to sync do not disturb mode with your phone. 

So, if I enable do not disturb mode on my watch, it will also be enabled on my phone, and vice versa when connected to a non-Samsung Android device.

So if I enable do not disturb mode on my phone, it has no effect on the watch and vice versa, and for those of you connected to a Samsung device who don't want that synced. 

Backing out of the notification settings and going to advanced settings, you'll notice at the top that there's an option called bedtime mode on the Samsung device that isn't available on the non-Samsung device.

If I tap this, I get the option to sync bedtime mode between my phone and my watch. Bedtime mode is not supported on non-Samsung devices, which is why you don't get the option to sync it. 

Bedtime mode is basically do not disturb mode, but it takes it a step further by turning your phone's screen black and white. Bedtime mode on the watch has a bit more functionality than it does on the phone.

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So it turned the screen brightness almost all the way down because there's no need for a super bright screen when you're going to sleep, and it also turned off all the wake up gestures. 

So turning your wrist to wake it up will have no effect. Touching the screen will not activate it. Turning the bezel will not wake it up; the only way to wake it up is to press one of the two physical buttons.

This also activates do not disturb mode, so you don't get notifications buzzing on your wrist while you're trying to sleep, and just to show what happens when you activate good night mode while connected to a Samsung device.

If I go ahead and tap that, you'll notice that my galaxy z fold 3 gradually transitions to a black and white screen, and turning the bezel does not wake it up. Tapping the screen does not bring it to life. Turning your wrist to wake it up will have no effect. 

The only way to wake this up is to press one of the two physical buttons, and if I go into my phone's settings and turn off bedtime mode, you'll notice that the color of my galaxy z fold 3 returns.

Now, if I rotate the bezel, it will wait for the watch to come back up. At the bottom of the advanced features section, there's an option called remote connection, and it differs slightly depending on whether you're connected to a Samsung device or a non-Samsung Android device. 

When connected to a Samsung device, this feature allows you to send and receive calls and messages from your watch as long as your watch is on a wi-fi network and not connected to your phone via bluetooth.

The only limitation of this feature on a non-Samsung Android device is that you don't get the remote calling option; however, remote messaging still works. 

Also, in case you're wondering, you don't need to manually sign into a wi-fi network on your watch; all wi-fi networks you're connected to on your phone are automatically transferred to your watch. 

When you set up the watch in terms of watch faces, you're only missing one feature, which is the ar emoji watch face.

So if I tap this on both devices, then tap customize, and you'll see that the Samsung device gives you the option to create new ar emojis, and it gives you a bunch of people to start with, or you can create one that looks like yourself using the camera on non-Samsung devices, you only get the option between this girl and this guy.

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If you're wondering what these avatars do, they have different animations depending on what's on your screen and change animations if you tap the screen. 

So that's everything Around Galaxy Watch 4 compatible with non-Samsung phones. you can and can't do with the Galaxy Watch 4 or 4 Classic when connected to a non-Samsung Android device. Let me know in the comments if you think it's worth it.