Galaxy Watch 4 having issues because of Google Assistant? Here's what you can do

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 recently received support for the Google Assistant. However, things haven’t been going so well for users since the digital helper landed on their wrists.

According to multiple reports over the last week, it’s very apparent that the Google Assistant has been causing a severe battery drain on the Galaxy Watch 4. The Verge tested this out on launch day and witnessed about a 20% battery reduction in just two hours of usage.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 users have also posted complaints on Reddit, stating that they can’t even get through half a day with the smartwatch after onboarding Assistant.

“I thought it was so strange my phone went from charging to two days on a single charge, and I been doing it every day now. Then I check stats, and GA is like taking the biggest chunk of battery,” a user wrote on Reddit.

Samsung hasn’t acknowledged the problem or released a software update to fix it yet, but there are some things you can try out to stop the Google Assistant from guzzling the battery on your Galaxy Watch 4.

How to fix battery drain issue on Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 with Google Assistant?

You can try disabling the “Hey Google” hotword on your Galaxy Watch 4 to reduce the strain on the battery. To do this, head to Setting > Google > Assistant on your Galaxy Watch. You’ll see a toggle to turn off the “Hey Google.” Tap to switch it off.

Also read: Common Galaxy Watch 4 problems and how to fix them

This stops the watch from constantly listening for the Assistant’s wake word, thereby saving battery life. Users who have tried the method report that it makes a significant difference. Of course, it’s not an ideal solution and mars the usability of the Assistant on the device, but it’s the only solution that works for now.

Other Galaxy Watch 4 issues due to Google Assistant

It seems battery drain is not the only problem users are facing after installing the Google Assistant. Some folks are seeing their watch unpair from their smartphones. A number of Reddit threads have appeared discussing the issue in the past few days.

Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to fix the problem is a hard reset of the smartwatch. You’ll have to painstakingly go through the entire process of setting up and pairing the Galaxy Watch 4 from scratch.

We’re hoping Samsung will issue a software fix for this problem soon. The last Galaxy Watch 4 update rolled out about a month back. Samsung is also getting ready to release a One UI Watch beta that may fix some of these bugs and introduce new features in the next few days.