Google is almost ready to launch its Android Wear 2.0 update to smartwatches. This essentially opens up a ton of possibility for wearable makers. You will no longer be confined to default options. Furthermore, there are various hardware shortcut buttons that you can take advantage of to make things much easier. Typically, these buttons are found above or below the power button on the watch’s side. You can customize them to launch whatever app you want active on your smartwatch.So if you already own a smartwatch with extra buttons that’s running on Android Wear 2.0 (e.g. the LG Watch Sport) you can ditch their default configuration and further
personalize your device. Below are a few steps that you can follow to customize your hardware shortcut buttons.
Steps to customize hardware shortcut buttons Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches
- On your watch face, swipe down then tap the ‘settings gear’.
- Scroll down then tap/choose ‘Personalization’.
- Scroll down then tap/choose ‘Customize hardware buttons’.
- Select the specific hardware button whose function you want to change or customize.
- Scroll through the available list then tap the particular app that you intend to associate or launch with the button.
That’s all you need to do to replace the default functions of hardware buttons on your smartwatch. You might also note that some applications have more than one option for the button. For instance, you may configure the button to launch the Google Fit app, or directly open the workout picker within this app. So you have to do quite some ‘playing around’ to see what actions make sense for what buttons.The next version of Android Wear 2.0 which can be expected in the next few days or weeks, will also bring a lot of new features to your smartwatch. Among other things, you can expect to see a design overhaul, improvement to watch faces, fitness, messaging and more!