Everyone has a favorite Internet browser, right? Google Chrome and Safari are staples, Firefox is still kicking, and Microsoft Edge has somehow established itself as a beloved underdog. But when it comes to surfing the web on your smartwatch, options are understandably more limited. By bringing its own browser to its latest smartwatches, Samsung may make things simpler for smartwatch wearers while also reminding people of the browser’s existence.
As spotted by 9to5Google, the Samsung Internet Browser is now available on the Google Play Store for Samsung smartwatches using Wear OS, namely the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic. The browser is already available for the company’s older Tizen-powered watches, such as the Galaxy Watch Active 2, and Samsung’s web surfer is also available on its phones and tablets. In fact, Samsung devices are often preloaded with the app, but since many also run Android, and thus come with Google Chrome, Samsung’s alternative frequently goes unused—or even unnoticed.
But the needs for watch-based web surfing are a bit different, and as detailed by 9to5Google, exploring the Internet on your wrist may be easier than you’d think with the Samsung Internet Browser. For example, you can swipe diagonally left or right to grab a webpage. Swiping up reveals handy features like bookmarking, zooming, or the ability to send a webpage to your phone. The search button on Samsung’s Internet Browser lets you access your favorite search engine, whether it’s Google, DuckDuckGo, or Bing.
This is a small move of convenience for Wear OS users that falls in line with Google’s promise this year to make everyday apps, such as its own Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Pay, more accessible on wearables. In the spring, Google also added tools for developers to make “new and rebuilt apps.”
In the meantime, Samsung’s Internet Browser may finally get a little more attention.
