Can You Play Music On A Smartwatch?
Plenty of running watches and smartwatches offer built-in music playback, meaning you're spoilt for choice if you're looking to enjoy phone-free workouts with tunes. Music support can vary between brands — some that promise music playback actually require manual MP3s to be added, while others can only provide music playback control when the watch is connected to a phone.
Offline Music Playback vs. Phone Control
There are two distinct modes of music on a smartwatch: offline playback and phone control.
- Offline Music Playback
- The ability to play music from the watch to a Bluetooth headset connected to the watch, or through the watch's built-in speakers. These watches can play offline music whether connected to a phone or not.
- Phone Music Control
- Virtually all smartwatches offer the ability to control phone media when connected to a phone. For select watch models, you can switch the control between different music apps on your connected phone directly from your watch.
Note that offline music is battery intensive, so most watches offer between 3 to 7 hours of continuous play. Apple Watch and Wear OS watches, depending on the model, offer between 18 hours to 3 days of battery life (excluding GPS tracking and offline music play).
Watches That Support Offline Music Storage
The following watch platforms tend to at least offer the ability to store and play your own MP3 files, and some extend this to streaming service integration:
- Some Coros, some Amazfit, some Polar, and some Huawei watches support storing and playing MP3 files.
- Apple Watches can play offline playlists from subscription services like Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Apple Music, assuming you have a subscription to the premium service.
- Wear OS watches offer support for your own files, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
- Garmin offers support for your own files, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music (via third-party app).
Offline Spotify requires a subscription and is limited to Apple Watches (locked to iPhone), Wear OS watches (locked to Android), and Garmin music watches (which can work with either iPhone or Android and generally have much longer battery life).
Streaming Service Compatibility
Most Garmin watches offer extensive support for music streaming, although it is worth noting that other major sports watch brands often lack partnerships for music integration. Supported services across platforms include:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- YouTube Music
- Amazon Music
- Deezer
To store music on your smartwatch via a streaming service, you must have a paid music subscription. Download the watch app for your preferred music service and log into a paid account, then follow the instructions in your chosen music app to download music directly to the smartwatch. Once downloaded, you can connect Bluetooth headphones to listen phone-free at any time.
How to Add Music to a Samsung Galaxy Watch
- Ensure your computer and watch are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
- On your watch, navigate to the music app, switch the music source to the watch, then find and tap Music Manager and start.
- Enter the IP address shown on your watch into your computer's web browser and confirm the connection on your watch.
- Add new tracks via your browser, choose the files you want to add, then select Open. To choose multiple files, hold the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac) before selecting Open.
- After the transfer, confirm on the web page and disconnect on your watch.
Deleting tracks is straightforward and does not affect the music on your phone. Navigate to the music app on your watch, select the tracks you wish to delete, and confirm the removal. Note for Galaxy Fit users: while direct music storage isn't available, you can control music playback from your phone using the music controller widget. Volume adjustments are possible with the Galaxy Fit2.
Recommended Watches for Phone-Free Music
Recommended Garmin models for phone-free music include the Garmin Vivoactive 5, Garmin Venu 3, Forerunner 165 Music, Forerunner 255 Music, and Forerunner 265. Which is best depends on your GPS activity use. Garmin has among the best GPS and sport tracking features. Next would be an Apple Watch, then the Wear OS watches (either the new OnePlus or Pixel Watch 2, then Samsung).
- Garmin Forerunner 165 Music — a running watch with music storage support
- Garmin Forerunner 970 — music features with sport tracking
- Garmin Fenix 8 (AMOLED) — music features in a premium multisport form factor
- Garmin Venu 4 — music features with AMOLED display
- Apple Watch (Series 11, Ultra 3 & SE 3) — offline playlists from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Deezer; locked to iPhone
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Series & Galaxy Watch Ultra — Wear OS with Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music; locked to Android
- Google Pixel Watch 4 — Wear OS music support; locked to Android
- Coros Pace 4 — offline music with MP3 support
LTE Watches for Fully Untethered Use
To receive calls and notifications without the phone being attached, you need an LTE watch. This generally means an Apple Watch or a Wear OS watch. Huawei does have some LTE watches but offers a much more basic experience than Wear OS and Apple Watch. Note that Apple Watches only work with iPhone, and Wear OS watches are locked to Android. Only Wear OS options with LTE are Samsung and Pixel. Note that using LTE can also significantly impact battery life.
Alternatively, if you can live without LTE, Coros offers some reasonably priced watches with good battery life, and Garmin also offers an excellent strength training app which includes workouts and the ability to create your own — allowing you to follow a workout on the watch, recording reps and weight for each exercise and each set. Without LTE, there are no notifications or calls while not connected to the phone.
