Have your phone in your pocket
Since the launch, Google has beefed up the feature set for Hangouts on Android Wear. But because Hangouts is the default messaging client on most Android phones. It doesn’t mean it’s your only option for messaging from your wrist. There are plenty of great messaging apps with their own Android Wear modules. Let’s check out the best ones.
Coffee – SMS on Android Wear
Coffee is an interesting app because it’s an SMS client designed exclusively for Android Wear. The phone side is only used for configuring settings, adding quick responses, and organizing your contacts. Messages on your phone are displayed on the watch with cool quick-reply features. The watch app includes dozens of pre-configured quick-reply snippets, but you don’t have to scroll through them all. They’re split into categories; similar statements are grouped together so you can build a reply in a few taps. There’s also voice input, of course. All the same messaging options are available if you want to send a new message from the watch. Just open Coffee and select a contact.
Coffee – SMS on Android Wear (free)
You won’t thankfully be doing video calls on your watch any time soon. But the Skype app has support for messaging on Android Wear. You’ll need to be logged into the Skype app on your phone and have it running in the background. But you can reply to all your messages from the watch. Replies are handled by voice, canned responses, or by drawing an emoji.
Skype (free)
WhatsApp Messenger
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging services in the world. As evidenced by the more than 1 billion installs it has on the Play Store. It quickly added support after Android’s wearable platform launched in 2014. Messages appear in full on the watch; you can reply by voice. There’s no dedicated wearable app to select contacts or conversations, so all your messages must be initiated by voice.
WhatsApp Messenger (free)
WEARRESPONSES
Unlike most other messaging apps for your wrist, WearResponses doesn’t try to take over your primary messaging app. Instead, it grafts new capabilities onto the existing SMS reply functionality. Android Wear still doesn’t have customized canned replies for SMS. That’s what WearResponses provides. You simply add your desired text to the app; when messages arrive on the watch via WearResponses. They’ll have your custom text as a quick reply option. It’s best to turn off notifications for your default SMS app, so you don’t get duplicates. The free version limits you to three custom responses, but the $2.99 paid version is unlimited.
WEARRESPONSES (free / $2.99)
The tiny screen on your watch is not very conducive to typing. Still, Wear Messenger makes the experience not terrible, which is probably the best you can hope for. This app has a full wearable app that can be launched anytime to see all the active conversations. And type out new replies with one of several keyboard options. You have to enable the keyboard in the phone settings app. The best one is FlickKey You tap or swipe each block of letters to get the ones you want. It’s not fast, but it’s feasible to shoot off short messages entirely from the watch. Wear Messenger also has full notification text voice replies. It will cost you a little under $2.
Wear Messenger ($1.62)
Messenger
Despite the sorry state of the main Facebook app, the Messenger client is actually reasonably well-supported. Messenger notifications on your Android Wear watch have full-text previews. And the ability to respond by voice or by drawing an emoji. Want something more immediate? Next to the reply button is one that just sends a thumbs-up emoji.
Messenger (free)
Telegram is a lot like WhatsApp, serving as a data-based replacement for SMS. But it’s free, open-source, and end-to-end encrypted. It also quickly added support for Android Wear. Allowing for unexpected text notifications and the option to reply via voice or by drawing an emoji. There’s no standalone Telegram app in the Wear launcher, though.
Telegram (free)
Messages for Wear OS (Android Wear)
Do you want a full QWERTY keyboard on your watch? That’s what you get with Messages for Android. It’s not as insane as it sounds; this app has tons of functionality for sending and reading your SMS. When messages arrive, you can view the current and the entire conversation via the wearable app. If you reply, there’s a voice option or a scrolling keyboard with text prediction. It’s possible to tap out a few words while speaking to the watch, or using your phone isn’t an option. A $1.49 upgrade adds canned responses, a custom signature, and more.
Messages for Wear OS (Android Wear) (free)
EvolveSMS – Simple Cyan
EvolveSMS is a full-featured SMS app for your phone, but it also has a great Android Wear client. It’s available in the app list and shows you all active conversations. Replies are only by voice; no fancy or awkward keyboards. EvolveSMS also supports unexpected text messages on the watch when new messages arrive and instant voice replies. The app is free, but if you want features like backup themes, it’s $3 via in-app purchases.
EvolveSMS – Simple Cyan (free)
Hangouts have SMS support but also, for some reason, has a dedicated SMS app. I’m willing to forgive the overlap because Messenger is fantastic. It doesn’t have a full Wear app in the launcher. Still, notifications on the watch have an expanded conversation view. And the ability to reply by voice or with a quick response. It even has an MMS image preview. Like all other apps, Messenger is free.
