Wear OS YouTube Music app update enables offline music machines

There's a new YouTube Music app coming to Wear OS devices that'll make said devices into mobile music monsters. In the past we had MP3 players – little iPods, Zune, and so forth that we'd strap to our arm and connect to our heads with wired earbuds when we went for a run. Now, with an app like YouTube Music (with a YouTube Music Premium subscription) there's a way to download music "for ad-free offline listening" without a mobile connection or connection to a smartphone.

The newest version of YouTube Music includes a YouTube Music app for Wear OS. This new version is available first to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, a pair of smartwatch devices revealed this week by Samsung. This app will not be exclusive to these devices, but these devices are the first to run the newest version of Wear OS developed by both Google and Samsung.

The new version of YouTube Music works with the platform's Smart Downloads feature. This feature "refreshes" the songs you've downloaded to a connected watch "whenever it's charging and connected to WiFi."

There'll also be a new look and feel for Google Play for Wear OS in the very near future. With the launch of the Galaxy Watch 4 and the new Google Play for Wear OS comes new iterations and new updates for apps that already work on Wear OS. Take for example Sleep Cycle, Spotify, Strava, MyFitnessPal, Period Tracker, Komoot, and Calm.

Be sure to check your Wear OS device this week for updates to Wear OS 2 for the apps listed above, and stick around as we relay more info on Wear OS 3 for new devices, too! Take a peek at the timeline below for recent updates to Wear OS and watch for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, headed for stores in late August 2021.