Fossil smartwatches can once again use Google Assistant

Fossil smartwatches can once again use Google Assistant, thanks to a recent update for the brand’s latest watches. Google Assistant was initially available on Fossil watches but was removed with the Wear OS 3 upgrade.

This is because Wear OS 3 removed Google Assistant entirely for a time. If you remember, when Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 first launched, Google Assistant wasn’t available out of the box. And it took quite a few months before an update enabled it. This is essentially what happened to the Fossil Gen 6 and other Fossil watches that were updated to Wear OS 3. Now it’s back though, adding more utility with the hands-free capabilities to do everything from search to send messages.

The update, spotted by DroidLife, is available for the Fossil Gen 6 and the Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition. If you haven’t seen the update on your own watch yet, you can manually check to see if there’s an update available to download.

You won’t need to install Google Assistant on your Fossil Gen 6

While you will need to install the watch update, you won’t need to install the Google Assistant app. The update software has Google Assistant as part of the update so once the software finishes installing on your watch, the Assistant features will simply work.

Realistically this only saves you a minute or two. So it’s not really a time saver, but more of a convenience thing. Still, users are sure to be happy they have one less thing to install.

You will however still need to configure Google Assistant by setting it up. You can do this through the settings menu on the watch. Scroll to Google and select it, then look for Assistant and select that. You should get a little step by step guide walking you through the setup process. After that you’re all good to go.