How to add music to your Android Wear watch

In September we exclusively reported Google’s plans to release an update to Android Wear, making it possible to store music on your smart watch. Last week, that report became a reality as Android Wear received an update adding music capabilities, along with bug fixes and GPS-tracking capabilities (a hardware-dependent feature, I might add).

The process for adding music to your watch is simple, once you figure out where the setting is.

First you’ll need to ensure your watch is updated to the latest version of the Android Wear OS. The current version number is 4.4W.2. Learn how to check your current OS version or request the update (if needed) by following the steps outlined in this post.

Now that your watch is current, make sure the Google Play Music app is up to date by launching the Play Store on your Android device and checking the My Apps section for updates.

• With both the watch and app updated, launch the Play Music app on your Android device and navigate to Settings.
• Scroll down until you find the option titled Download to Android Wear.
• Check the box located next to the title and back out of settings.

If you have any music stored on your device the music will begin transferring to your watch automatically. If you don’t, however, you’ll need to download music either from your library or the Play Music Store. You can download music by viewing a playlist, song or entire album and tapping on the three-dot menu icon. From the list, select Download.

Once music has been downloaded to your Android device, and as long as you’ve checked the appropriate box in settings, the music will automatically transfer to your device with no further action. You can then used a paired Bluetooth device to listen to your tunes.

Obviously there’s some shortfalls here, mainly that you can’t pick and choose which of your downloaded music you want transferred to the watch. It’s an all-or-nothing approach, with the biggest limitation being storage space on your watch.

Here’s hoping an update is in the works improve this feature.