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1 10 Fixes for Notifications Not Showing Up on Wear OS Smartwatch

10 Fixes for Notifications Not Showing Up on Wear OS Smartwatch

A smartwatch serves multiple purposes. You can track activities, check blood pressure, and make payments! While these features are useful, there’s another functionality that smartwatches provide — notifications. You can check a notification on your wrist to see if it’s important enough to check your phone. If this is crucial for you, it would be a bummer if notifications don’t show up on your Wear OS smartwatch.

I keep my phone on “Do Not Disturb” at all times and rely solely on my smartwatch for push notifications. So, if Wear OS notifications don’t work, I end up with 12 missed calls from my mom and an angry face when I get home.

To fix the problem, follow these steps.

What Notifications Can You See on a Wear Os Smartwatch

A Wear OS smartwatch is like a mini Android phone on your wrist. It displays all the notifications from your phone on its own display. You can view calls, texts, and emails on your Wear OS smartwatch. Meta recently introduced WhatsApp for Wear OS, so you can now receive and reply to WhatsApp notifications on your watch.

Wear OS allows you to enable or disable notifications from specific apps manually. If you’re not receiving notifications on your Samsung Galaxy Watch, Fossil, or other Wear OS smartwatches even after enabling them, try the fixes below.

How to Fix Wear OS Notifications Not Working

Pick up your smartwatch and the linked phone, and follow the methods one after the other.

1. Ensure Bluetooth is Enabled

To confirm device communication, follow these steps:

1. Access the quick toggles by dragging down the notification panel on your phone.

2. Enable Bluetooth by tapping on the Bluetooth icon in the Quick Toggles. If it’s already enabled, disable and re-enable it.

Step 3: Open the Settings app on your smartwatch. Tap on Connections.

Step 4: Select Bluetooth. Toggle on. If already on, toggle off and on again.

Wait for the smartwatch to connect to your phone. It’s necessary to be in the operating Bluetooth range for the smartwatch to stay connected at all times.

2. Disable Airplane or Flight Mode

Bluetooth connectivity allows your smartphone to receive notifications. However, if airplane mode is enabled, your phone won’t receive notifications from apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Turn off the toggle from the quick settings menu on your smartphone if it’s enabled. Alternatively, turn on the toggle and turn it back off if you’re facing network issues.

3. Allow Notification Permissions for the Smartwatch App

Your smartwatch connects to your phone via an app. Depending on the watch you use, it could be Google’s Wear OS app or the brand’s proprietary app like Galaxy Wearable. To receive notifications on your watch, enable notification permissions by following these steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your smartphone.

2. Go to the Notifications section and tap ‘Device & app notifications.’

3. Choose the Wear OS app or ‘Galaxy Watch Manager’ from the app list.

4. Enable the toggle next to ‘Allow notification access.’

4. Turn Off Battery Optimization

Enabling battery optimization for an app allows Android to kill it in the background or prevent it from staying open for a long time if it’s consuming excessive power. Turning off this option is recommended to ensure smooth app functioning. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your smartphone and go to the Apps section. Select ‘See all apps’.

Step 2: Find the Wear OS app or ‘Galaxy Watch Manager’ app from the list. Select the Battery option.

Step 3: Change battery usage setting to Unrestricted.

5. Remove the App From Adaptive Battery Optimization

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your smartphone. Go to the Battery section and select Adaptive battery.

Step 2: Head to the Restricted apps section. If you see the Wear OS or Galaxy Watch Manager app here, uncheck it.

6. Disable DND on the Watch

If you have a Samsung smartphone and a Samsung watch, the ecosystem syncs actions on both devices. So, if you enable Do Not Disturb (DND) on your phone, it will also be enabled on your watch.

Manually turn off DND on your watch by swiping down and toggling it off.

7. Turn Off Battery Saver on the Watch

Wear OS watches often have poor battery life. To extend your watch’s battery life, enable the built-in battery-saver mode. However, be aware that enabling the battery saver can also impact notifications. If it’s not essential, swipe down to access the quick toggles and disable the Battery Saver mode.

8. Clear the App Cache and Data

Clearing the cache of an app that isn’t functioning as intended is a basic step and often solves the issue. You can try doing this if the companion app on your phone isn’t sending notifications to your watch.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your smartphone. Go to the Apps section and select ‘See all apps’.

Step 2: Find the Wear OS or ‘Galaxy Watch Manager’ app. Then, select the ‘Storage & cache’.

Step 3: First, hit Clear cache. Then, choose Clear data (or clear storage).

9. Don’t Kill the Companion App From Memory

Some UIs aggressively optimize RAM by killing background apps for faster phone performance. In these cases, it is wise to keep the companion app open in the background.

Open the Wear OS or Galaxy Wearable app on your smartphone. Don’t close it from the recent apps tray. If possible, lock the app to prevent it from being killed in the background.

10. Unpair the Watch and Pair It Back

If none of the solutions worked, reset the watch and pair it with your phone. This will fix any software issues. Follow these steps to reset the watch.

Step 1: Go to the Settings app on your Wear OS smartwatch and scroll down to the General section.

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom, select Reset. Choose to back up your data if you wish to.

Step 3: Scroll to the bottom and hit Reset.

Your smartwatch will reset to factory settings. You’ll have to pair it to your phone from scratch. During setup, you can restore data from a backup.

FAQs for Notifications Not Showing on Wear OS

1. Can I pair a Wear OS smartwatch with another phone without resetting it?

Although it’s not officially supported, there is a workaround to connect your Wear OS smartwatch to a new phone without resetting it.

2. Will I get notifications on my watch if I’m away from my phone?

If you have a smartwatch with LTE, you’ll receive calls and notifications even when not in Bluetooth range of your phone. However, a standard Wi-Fi watch won’t receive notifications when away from your phone.

3. Which are the best Wear OS smartwatches I can buy?

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series and newer models are excellent choices. You may also consider the Google Pixel Watch or Fossil’s Wear OS watches.

No More Missed Notifications

If you use a smartwatch solely for notifications and fitness isn’t your thing, you might be frustrated if you don’t feel any vibrations on your wrist. However, you can fix this issue by following the steps above to ensure that notifications appear on your Wear OS smartwatch.