Google Assistant has been one of the most noticeably absent features on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 since its release. Thankfully, it looks like all of that waiting is finally coming to an end. For the most part, the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic are two of the best smartwatches available in 2022. They have sleek designs, robust health tracking, and decent app support — all starting at just $249.
But there's one critical feature that's been missing since the Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic launched last August: Google Assistant. The Assistant was a staple feature on older Wear OS smartwatches — allowing you to ask for the weather, control smart home devices, send texts, and more with just your voice. But the Google Assistant is nowhere to be found on the Galaxy Watch 4. Google's confirmed that the Assistant is coming to the Watch 4 at some point, but neither Google nor Samsung has provided a firm date for when that's happening.
Today, that's (kind of) changing. Among the onslaught of news coming out of Google I/O 2022, Samsung quietly published a blog post titled, "Wearing the Future on Your Wrist: What’s Next for the Galaxy Watch and Wear OS." The post offers an overview of Samsung's partnership with Google on Wear OS 3, the success of the Galaxy Watch 4, and a commitment to releasing more Google apps/services that are 'optimized' for Galaxy Watches. More important than all of that, Samsung also uses the blog post to announce that the Google Assistant is coming to the Galaxy Watch 4 'this summer.' Per Samsung, "This Summer, I’m excited to share that Galaxy Watch 4 users will be able to download Google Assistant to their device, featuring faster and more natural voice interactions, enabling quick answers and on-the-go help."
The Wait For Assistant On The Galaxy Watch 4 Is Almost Over
As exciting as that news is, it's important to remember how delayed the Assistant is at this point. Samsung was originally supposed to add Google Assistant to the Galaxy Watch 4 by the end of 2021. That, obviously, never happened. Samsung then announced in February that the Assistant was still 'months' away from release without providing a reason for the prolonged delay.
And even with today's announcement, we still don't have a specific date to look forward to. A 'summer' release means any time between June 21 and September 22. Google Assistant could be a few short weeks away, or we may be waiting another three to four months. Is that ideal? No. But at the very least, we're one step closer to an Assistant-equipped Samsung Galaxy Watch 4.
Source: Samsung