Fans moved Samsung watch apps and faces onto Google's Pixel Watch

Fans have found a way to run Samsung Galaxy Watch software on Google's Pixel Watch. Community developers ported Samsung's Compass and Gallery apps, plus a set of Galaxy Watch faces, to Wear OS watches including the Pixel Watch. Wear OS is the Google-made system both watches run. The most useful port is Gallery, because the Pixel Watch has no photo viewer of its own.

What the ports offer

The Compass app uses the watch's sensors to show which way you are facing, in Samsung's style. The Pixel Watch already has a compass, so this is mostly a different look, and it only makes sense on watches with a compass sensor.

Gallery fills a real gap. Google does not include a gallery app or a file explorer on the Pixel Watch, while Samsung includes a gallery on the Galaxy Watch. It helps if you want to view photos on your wrist or use faces that show a picture.

The watch faces are the main draw for many people. They were tested on a handful of watches, so they may not work on all of them, and some features may be missing.

How hard is setup

These apps do not come from the Play Store, so they must be sideloaded. That means installing them from outside the official app store. You turn on developer options on the watch, connect it to a computer using a developer tool called ADB, and send the file across. It takes some comfort with command-line tools.

The Gallery app needs one more step. A command run from the computer gives it broad access to files on the watch, which it needs to find photos. Without that step, the app presumably cannot see what is stored on the watch.

What to watch out for

• Google, Samsung and the watch maker offer no support for these ports.
• Some may not work, or may break after a future update.
• A known problem: pop-ups do not open when the ported apps are closed.
• The ports are not meant for Galaxy Watches, where some features may not work correctly.

Alternatives exist for the file side. Open-source file managers such as AnExplorer and WearFiles are already available for the Pixel Watch. Samsung's gallery, though, is built for a watch screen, and this port is currently the way to get it.

Not a new trick

Swapping faces between brands has happened before. After the original Pixel Watch launched in 2022, Google's 18 default faces were packaged so they could be sideloaded onto Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 5 models. More recently, Pixel Watch 4 faces were ported to Galaxy Watch 6 and older, but not the Watch 7, Ultra and 8 series, which launched with Wear OS 6.