Samsung’s latest wearables, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, have taken top honors as AP’s favorite smartwatches you can buy. With bigger and better displays, improved battery life, and Wear OS 4, the pair is hard to beat. There are ways to make the watches even better, and we assembled the best ones here. Here are our top six Galaxy Watch 6 tips and tricks.

1 Swap out Bixby for Google Assistant

Many Android users, even some loyal Samsung fans, prefer Google Assistant to Samsung Bixby. While some Wear OS watches don’t have access to Assistant, Samsung’s watches do. Even better, you can set Google Assistant to take over as your Watch 6’s default voice assistant. Here’s how:

1. If Google Assistant isn’t installed on your watch, search for
   Google Assistant
   in the Play Store on your Watch 6 and install the app.
2. On your Watch 6, open
   Settings
   .
3. Scroll down and tap
   Apps
   .

4. Tap
   Choose default apps
   .
5. Tap
   Digital assistant app
   .

6. Tap
   Default app
   .
7. Choose
   Assistant
   .

Completing this process makes Google Assistant your watch’s default voice assistant, which means it pops up instead of Bixby when you press and hold the watch’s home button.

2 Make your Watch 6 a better watch with hourly chime

For all their useful high-tech features, one of the most helpful aspects of any smartwatch is that it tells the time. The Galaxy Watch 6 has an hourly chime feature that makes the watch chime and buzz at the top of each hour, helping you keep track of what time it is throughout the day.

1. On your Watch 6, open
   Settings
   .
2. Scroll down and tap
   Sounds and vibration
   .

3. Scroll down and tap
   System sounds
   .
4. Find and turn on
   Hourly chime
   .

With hourly chime activated, your watch buzzes every hour, on the hour, and chimes if you turned on system sounds. You’ll always know what time it is.

While the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 lets you define what a long-press or a double-press on the home button does, the back button is less customizable. Pressing and holding it always opens Samsung Wallet. That’s a bummer, but you can get an extra app shortcut with a feature Samsung calls quick launch. Setting it up is easy.

1. On your Watch 6, open
   Settings
   .
2. Scroll down and tap
   Advanced features
   .

3. Scroll down and tap
   Quick launch
   .
4. Turn on the feature.

5. To choose what happens when you make the quick launch gesture, tap
   Select an option
   .

With quick launch activated, hold your arm level and flick your fist downward twice (imagine knocking on an invisible table two times) to trigger the action or open the app of your choice. It’s not entirely seamless, and it takes some practice to get the gesture just right. But if you want to access more than a couple of features without digging into your watch’s app drawer, quick launch is the way to do it.

4 Tailor your notifications

If your Galaxy Watch 6 is either serving notifications you don’t want or failing to serve the notifications you do, there’s an easy fix. The Galaxy Wearable app lets you choose which apps installed on your phone can send notifications to your watch.

1. Open the
   Galaxy Wearable
   app on your phone.
2. Tap
   Watch settings
   .
3. Tap
   Notifications
   .

4. Tap
   App notifications
   .
5. Scroll through the list and turn on the apps you want to send notifications to your watch.

However, you can’t pick and choose which notification channels for individual apps will alert you on your Watch 6. You also can’t have notifications go only to your watch. If you turned off notifications for a given app on your phone, you must turn them on before you can have them pop up on your watch.

5 Mute notifications on your phone while wearing your watch

If your watch vibrates and lights up when you get a notification, your phone probably doesn’t need to. The Galaxy Wearable app lets you turn off alerts on your phone while your watch is on your wrist.

1. Open the
   Galaxy Wearable
   app on your phone.
2. Tap
   Watch settings
   .
3. Tap
   Notifications
   .

4. Turn on
   Mute notifications on phone
   .

This setting only applies when your Galaxy Watch 6 is unlocked and on your wrist, so you won’t miss anything important while your watch is charging.

6 Dismiss calls with a twist

A call causing your watch to vibrate at an inopportune time can be very frustrating, especially if your other hand can’t get to the watch to silence it. But the Galaxy Watch 6 offers a setting that lets you dismiss calls and other alerts like alarms and timers with a one-handed gesture.

1. On your Watch 6, open
   Settings
   .
2. Scroll down and tap
   Advanced features
   .

3. Scroll down and tap
   Dismiss alerts and calls
   .
4. Turn on the feature.

With this feature turned on, you can dismiss calls, alarms, and timers by quickly rotating your wrist two times. This action is especially handy while you’re cooking, walking the dog, or doing anything that stops you from using both hands at once to deal with a notification.

Spruce up your wrist with a Galaxy Watch 6

These are our top tips for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. If you don’t have Samsung’s latest wearable yet, we’re keeping an eye on the best Galaxy Watch 6 deals to help you get the best price. Already have a Watch 6? Spruce it up with a nice new band.

• Source: Samsung

  Samsung Galaxy Watch 6

  The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is one of the best Android watches available, especially if you’re already in the Samsung ecosystem. With a sapphire crystal display, Exynos W930 processor, 2GB of RAM, and up to a 425mAh battery, this watch is built to be a solid performer.

• Source: Samsung

  Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic

  Samsung’s latest generation of the Galaxy Watch 6 comes in a larger Classic version. It sports a bigger case and a physical rotating bezel to control the watch, along with all the other welcome improvements in the vanilla Watch 6.