Let’s see how to customize Galaxy Watch buttons directly from the Watch itself.

Customize Galaxy Watch Buttons From Watch

We will customize the hardware buttons on your Samsung Galaxy Watch from the watch.

  1. On the home page of your Galaxy Watch and scroll upwards to open the app drawer. Here tap on the cog icon to open Settings.
  2. In Settings, scroll down and open the Advanced features option.
  3. Then scroll down again and select the Customize keys. This is where you can customize Galaxy Watch buttons and what they do. Info: You can change press and hold and double-press actions of the home button and also customize the single press action of the back button. But, you cannot customize single press action of home button which is set to open home screen by default. Double pressing or pressing and holding the back button cannot be customized either. There is no default action nor do you have the option to customize it.
  4. To customize the double press action of the home button, tap on Double press and select any action or app from the list. Once selected, you can double-press the home button to open the selected app or action.
  5. To customize the Press and hold action of the home button, tap on it. Unlike the double press action, you cannot use it to select any app or action. By default, it is set to Bixby but you can choose to open Google Assistant or the power menu instead.
  6. If you don’t see Google Assistant here, make sure to update your Galaxy Watch and Google Assistant app to the latest version. Once selected, now you can long press the home button to open the selected action here. If you are not a fan of using voice assistants, you can choose to open the power menu.
  7. To customize the single press action of the back button, scroll down and select the Short press under the Back key.
  8. By default, it is set to go to the previous screen, but you can change it to show recent apps.

Customize Buttons on Galaxy Watch From Android Phone

Instead of customizing the button actions on the Galaxy Watch, you can use your phone to customize them.

  1. First make sure that your watch is connected to your phone via Bluetooth. You can customize Galaxy Watch buttons from your phone from the Galaxy Wearable app. You most likely have this app installed on your phone already as it is used to set up your watch. If not, download from the Play Store which should show your watch settings without any pairing required again once you log in with the same Samsung account.
  2. Now on the Galaxy Wearable app, open the Watch settings option.
  3. Then scroll down and select the Advanced features option.
  4. Now under the Home Key option, tap on Double press to customize the home button double press action to any action or app on your Galaxy Watch.
  5. Tap on Press and hold option to choose between Bixby, Google Assistant, and power menu. By default, it is set to Bixby.
  6. Now under the Back key option, tap on the Short press option to choose between Go to previous screen or to Show recent apps. Once done, these changes will be applied to the watch immediately.

Customizing Buttons on Samsung Galaxy Watch

Though the buttons on Galaxy Watch can be cutomized to do perform various actions, it feels restricted by Samsung a bit. As we noticed, you cannot change the default action for double-press and press and hold the back button on Galaxy Watch. Now that you have customized your Galaxy Watch buttons, also check out some of these accessories which will improve safety along with the functionality both at the same time.