How to change your button shortcuts on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 has two buttons, just like previous Galaxy Watches. Samsung still has shortcuts you can map to the back and home buttons, just like previous Galaxy Watches. There’s no way to swap the home and back buttons — those coming from earlier Galaxy Watches will have to get used to Home on top rather than on bottom — but if you want to change the button shortcuts on your Galaxy Watch 4, it’s a quick and easy process.

How to change button shortcuts on Galaxy Watch 4

1. Swipe down to open Quick Settings.
2. Tap Settings.

3. Tap Advanced Features.

   

4. Tap Customize buttons.
5. Tap Double press.

6. Tap the **app **you wish to trigger instead. I use Timer because it helps when baking.

   

7. Click the back button.

8. Tap Press and hold.

9. Tap Power off menu.

   

You can also change your Back button’s single-click to a recent apps button, but I advise against it. Doing this means you don’t have a back button at all, so if an app doesn’t support the “swipe right to go back” — like RadarScope — then you can only get out with the home button.

If you need suggestions for your double-tap shortcut, I recommend Google Keep, the Timer app, or Google Pay — if you’re using Samsung Pay, it has a monopoly on the “press and hold back button” shortcut. You can set Timer as a complication on your watch face, but if you don’t have room for it, having it a double-click away is very handy. My double-click is set to Google Pay, just so I can bring it up and have it ready while waiting for the cashier to finish ringing up my order, but any app that you use regularly could be a good option here. Once Google Assistant arrives, that will probably replace the Pay shortcut, but until then, it’s been super-handy while out and shopping.

If you want to upgrade your experience further, consider buying a better Galaxy Watch 4 band, so you can spice things up — or get a better fit if you have a small wrist like mine. For small wrists, the sculpted inner edges of the in-box Samsung band can cause wider gaps around small wrists, so you’ll need to swap to something that flat near the pin.

Upgrade your experience

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

From $250 at Best Buy (Galaxy Watch 4)
From $250 at Amazon (Galaxy Watch 4)
From $350 at Best Buy (Watch 4 Classic)
From $350 at Amazon (Watch 4 Classic)

The best Android smartwatch of 2021 is here.

The Galaxy Watch 4 is the first smartwatch to run the new Wear OS powered by Samsung, and it gives us the smoothest, fastest Android watch to date. While we’re still missing Google Assistant, access to Google Play Android apps and Google services like Gboard and Google Pay ensure we get the best of both Samsung and Google.