The Apple Watch has a lot of third-party music app options as well. Here’s a breakdown of the major players by platform, and how to start listening. You can, but your phone-free options will be much more limited. That’s not to say you can’t listen to music for free. Also, if you want to download playlists for offline playback, you’ll almost certainly need a subscription to the music service of your choice.
Keep in mind that you’ll likely need a pair of Bluetooth headphones, as not every smartwatch has a speaker. If your smartwatch has LTE, you may also be able to stream music directly to your wrist. Some will have options for offline playback, either through downloadable playlists or onboard music storage. Much of it will depend on which service is supported and what OS your watch runs on.
Whether it’s an Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, Garmin, Fitbit or Wear OS watch, you’ve got a lot of options for listening to music. While nearly every smartwatch lets you control music on your phone, a good number can also play music on-device. That’s where smartwatches can come in pretty handy. But not everyone wants to schlep their phone around while hitting the trails or working up a sweat. For a lot of people, music is an integral part of working out.