The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 (and Active 2) runs Tizen OS, and while it doesn't have an app selection as large as rivals, there are plenty of top apps on the Galaxy Store.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch Active 2 have been hugely successful smartwatches, and despite the launch of the new Galaxy Watch 4. And Samsung will support its older watches for a few more years.
And things are improving on the app front, and there are now some big names and more useful apps lurking inside of the Galaxy Store.
Samsung's Tizen platform is filled with more than 60,000 apps and watch faces and below we've picked out the best apps for you to download based on our time with the Galaxy Watch. That includes third-party apps for music, fitness, news headlines and more.
Important update: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has moved back to Wear OS – so it will now tap into Wear OS 3.0 apps on the Play Store, not the Tizen ones listed here. Check out our guide to the best Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 apps if you have that smartwatch.
- Upgrade: The best Samsung wearables
- Customise: Samsung watch faces you need to download
- Learn: How to use WhatsApp on Samsung Galaxy Watch
Best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for music
Spotify
Nobody in the wearables business has a better relationship with Spotify than Samsung. It was the first smartwatch company to offer full Spotify support, and still only joined by Garmin that offer this.
So, if you want to use the Galaxy Watch for music - whether that's on a morning commute or your daily workout - there is no better choice than Spotify right now.
You get the ability to check out recently played music, playlists and the top charts. Naturally, you'll also get to take a look at your own library, which includes your custom playlists.
However, the big feature - if you're a Premium user - is the offline playback support, meaning you don't have to be connected to your phone in order to listen. That's great for runners, commuters or those that want to leave their smartphone behind.
Free Radio
A pretty straightforward app, Free Radio lets you listen to broadcasts from your Galaxy Watch and even filters by country to help find something from around the world to accompany you on your runs.
There's also a premium version called Watch Radio worth checking out, which gives you a dedicated widget to make it easier to tune in too.
Best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for fun
Gear Tac Toe
A time killing game when you can't get to your phone, Gear Tac Toe puts noughts and crosses onto your watch screen.
There's the offer of 3x3 and 5x5 game modes and three difficulty levels. So when those wins come too easy, you can quickly step things up to make things more challenging.
Watch Viewer for Twitter
This handy app for Twitter fans can pull up your feed and let you like and retweet tweets in a really nice and easy way. You can even view follower profiles and check how many more followers they have than you. It's not an official app, but is one that's worked well for us without any issues on Samsung's Galaxy Watch 3.
Facer
You've already looked at the best Samsung Galaxy Watch faces - you're no fool - but what about an app that gives you an alternative to plucking them out of the clunky Tizen Store? Enter, Facer.
Read this: How to use Facer on a Samsung Galaxy Watch
Like with Wear OS and Apple Watch, the Facer app lets you pick from its library of free or paid-for faces, giving you a much more comprehensive list than you have at your disposal through Samsung.
Monster Vampire
Have some time to pass and want a cute little game on your wrist to help out? Monster Vampire is a good one to try.
It's a breaker game where you use the rotating bezel to bounce a monster around to eat some jack o' lanterns. You can also walk to get yourself more energy to help you out, too.
Best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for productivity
Voice Recorder
Samsung's voice memo app is a really useful app to have on your Galaxy Watch.
It's not pre-installed, but it is simple to use. Simply hit the record button and you're good to go. Once you're done, you'll get a transcription of your audio along with your file, which automatically syncs to your smartphone.
The latest version offers unlimited recording in the standard recording mode and up to ten minutes when you make use of the speech-to-text mode.
PPT Controller
It might not be the most fun entry on our list, but it might be one of the most useful. PPT Controller will let you control your Powerpoint presentation from anywhere in the boardroom.
It uses the Galaxy Watch's rotating bezel to control slide pages, will let you see duration of the presentation and additionally control when you bring things to a close before asking if there's any questions.
Samsung Internet
We admit, your wrist isn't exactly the best place to check a website out. But sometimes there are situations where it's warranted – maybe you forgot your phone somewhere, or you're way too lazy to get it out of your skinny jeans or purse.
Samsung's Internet browser, which is not pre-installed, is a pretty good stop-gap. You can check out all your bookmarks or search the web via Google voice search.
CryptoWidget
If you've invested in big in Bitcoin or Ethereum, this really simple widget offers real-time data to show how much that virtual currency is currently worth.
You have control over what price the currency is displayed in and because it's available in widget form, this is one that can be just a swipe away from the main watch screen. It's a paid for affair, but it's a small price to pay if you care about keeping tabs on your crypto.
Flipboard News Briefing
Simply, it's the Flipboard news experience on your wrist. It's extremely easy to use and set up, and the news is broken down into easily digestible nuggets of need-to-know information.
There's no better way to check out the news on your wrist based on our testing time with Samsung's smartwatches.
Best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for travel
Uber
Now you can Uber everywhere from your wrist. You simply set your pickup and get going.
It's not difficult dragging the map around to choose your pickup spot, and that sweet rotating bezel is handy for zooming in and out of the map to get a better view.
Find My Car
There's nothing more frustrating – or humiliating – than wandering around a parking lot not having remembered where you parked.
Find My Car solves that, allowing you to save your location on the map. You can also leave yourself a voice memo of where you left your car, and a little counter on the bottom will tell you how far away you are.
Best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for home control
Samsung SmartThings
Samsung has a massive ecosystem of devices, and it's gone in hard on the smart home game with its SmartThings-compatible devices.
You can use the SmartThings app to check out the status of your devices and even control routines. This includes controlling your TV, which might be the most important smart thing of all.
Switch+ for Philips Hue
If you've not worked it out from the name, this is a way to take control of any Philips Hue smart lighting setups you have in our home.
It uses the rotating bezel to let you switch lights and you can control the amount of light in a room, select scenes, colors and brightness settings.
There's is a 7-day free trial to see if you like it and then you'll need to pay a one-off to control your smart lighting for longer.
Best Samsung Galaxy Watch apps for fitness
Komoot
One for adventurers, the very popular route plotting app lets you download hiking or running trails with rich, detailed mapping for offline use. It also offers turn-by-turn navigation once you're ready to get moving.
Like Komoot's other wearable apps, you can download one region to use for free and then you'll need to pay to use it for longer and further afield. It's worth paying though if you like putting your Samsung smartwatch to the outdoor test.
Strava: Run Walk or Ride
If you're looking for an alternative to Samsung's own Workout app, the Strava app is a pretty good app to try out instead to track your exercise time.
Read this: How to use Strava on a Samsung smartwatch
You can track runs, cycles and swims and take advantage of the Watch's onboard sensors to get a good fix of real-time metrics on screens that make it easy to absorb that data on the move.
Once you're done, hit save and it'll sync over waiting for that deluge of Kudos.
Speedometer
Sometimes, when you're cycling or just scootering around, you don't want to know all your health metrics – you just want to know how fast you're going.
Speedometer is an old Gear S3 option, and it's perfect for that exact need.
The app uses your GPS to check your speed. You can also save your journeys, and you'll get to see your distance, duration and a speed map of how fast (or slow) you were going.
Map My Run
Similar to Spotify, Samsung has long had a relationship with Under Armour's suite of fitness apps – and Run with Map My Run is your best option for running with Galaxy Watch.
It uses your Galaxy Watch's GPS to track your distance and pace and other metrics.
Bonus: When you buy a Galaxy Watch, you get a year of MapMyRun Premium membership for free from the time you install and set up the app.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.