Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 offers more customizability at launch than its previous watches. Part of that is the ability to reprogram the home button and back keys to better suit your everyday needs or workflows. And now that Google Assistant is available on Wear OS 3, you don’t have to settle for Samsung hard-coding Bixby as your default smartwatch assistant.
Out of the box, you can double-press the home button to go to the most recent app you’ve been using or long-press to open Bixby. The back button takes you back to a previous screen with a short press and launches Samsung Pay with a long press. If these don’t work for you, you can edit these controls except launch Samsung Pay. For whatever reason, Samsung won’t let you change those hardcoded controls.
Button reprogramming is of course not unique to Samsung Galaxy smartwatches. You can do this with most watches. However, with the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 series, your choices are a bit more structured – and if you want to launch Google Assistant with a long press, there are a few extra steps. Get started as follows:
- Swipe up to open the main menu of the app.
- Press Settings icon (it looks like a gear).
- Scroll down and tap Advanced features.
- Tap Customize keys.
- below house keyyou can then use the Double press and Press and hold options.
- Double press let you either Go to most recent app or launch a specific app. Tap the app icon that best suits you.
- You have fewer options for the Keep pressed choice. Here you can download Bixby, Google Assistant or the Switch off menu. To start Assistant, you must first download Google Assistant by going to the play shop, installing the assistant update, and follow the instructions on the screen. You will be instructed to activate the Assistant for use on your smartwatch via the app on your phone. Note: If you are upgrading from a Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic with Assistant Update already installed, you may need to restart your phone.
- You can also scroll down to the back key part from the Customize keys menu to reprogram the short press. There are two options: Go to the previous screen or Show recent apps. Select whichever is most suitable for your needs.
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- Open the Galaxy Wearable app.
- Tap Look settings.
- Scroll down to Advanced features.
- You should see the house key and back key sections. below house keyyou can tap Double press or Keep pressed to reprogram the buttons. below back keyyou can tap Short press. The options for all of these are the same as on the watch.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.