[Wear OS General] bernarbernuli:
All-in-One tool for Windows. Wear OS Tools v3.1

It's a tool for use with any Wear OS watch. I am releasing today an improved and optimized version with several new features.

What does it do?

It is an All-in-One tool for Windows that makes it easy to do certain things with the watch, such as:​

Send files to the watch such as MP3s, images, PDFs, or download files contained in the watch.

Install applications (Sideload).

Uninstall apps of watch.

Change ringtone, notification sound and alarm sound of the watch. [new]

Use the computer keyboard to type on the watch.

Change screen density

Change font size. [new]

Force pairing the watch with Bluetooth without resetting to factory defaults.

Take screenshots of the watch screen, and send them directly to the PC (Screenshot).

Record the watch screen, and send it directly to the PC in MP4 format (Screen record).

Extract all the apps you have installed on the watch and mass restore them when necessary (Backup/Restore).

View watch information such as serial number, build version, Android version, resolution, battery status...

Changelog:

v1.0 (Feb 13, 2021) - Initial version

v1.1 (Feb 21, 2021) - Compiled again with Pro version of the EXE converter.

v2.0 (May 19, 2022) - Added new features (backup and restore tool, screen recorder and watch information)

v3.0 (Aug 27, 2022) - Added new functions (Change font size, change watch sounds), debugged code, optimized menus

v3.1 (Aug 30, 2022) - Fixed bug in option to change ringtones and sounds.

Requirements

Windows O.S.

Have the ADB drivers installed. Here is the link to download them. During installation, make sure to enable the "Add to System Path Environment" option.

Connect the watch and the phone to the same Wi-Fi network.

Enable debugging over Wi-Fi on the watch. On the watch, go to Settings > system > About and tap "Build Number" several times until you see a message that says "you are now a developer". Then go to Settings > developer options and enable "ADB debugging" and "Debugging over Wi-Fi".

Considerations

Actually, it is a simple batch script file that I coded and then converted to an executable file,

I have passed it through VirusTotal, and it has given me false positive in some 60 antivirus that there are, fortunately they are unknown antivirus, I do not know why this happens. I was reading about it, I believe that it is for the type of compression that is made when going from bat to EXE and some rare antivirus detects it as Trojan.

The tool is available in English (EN) and Spanish (ES).

To find out the IP address of the watch, just go to "Debugging over Wi-Fi" in Settings > developer options. Under that option, you will see the IP. You can also see it in Settings > Connectivity > Wi-Fi > "Your Wi-Fi network".

You can connect the watch by USB cable or by Wi-Fi network.

Wear OS watches are a bit unstable to stay connected to the Wi-Fi network especially if it is connected by Bluetooth with the phone, to make sure it connects smoothly when using the tool enable the "Enable Wi-Fi automatically when charging" option in Settings > developer options, and plug the watch to the charger.

When you have finished, turn off "ADB debugging" on the watch, otherwise it will drain your watch battery...

Where to download?

Wear OS Tool v3.1​

Method

Download and unzip in a folder the file from the "Where to download" section.

Make sure you meet all the points in the "requirements" section.

Locate the IP address of the watch as explained in the "considerations" section.

Run Wear OS Tools and enter the IP address.

Choose a function to run and follow the instructions on the screen.

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Version Information

Status: Stable

Current Version: v3.1

Release Date: 13/02/2021

Last Update Date: 30/08/2022

Easter egg in Wear OS

There is a hidden Google app, an Easter egg, inside Wear OS, it has been named "Wear OS drum machine". To get to the easter egg you have to do the following:

1. Open the flashlight app, and turn flashlight off.

2. Tap twice quickly in the center of the screen, and on the second tap and hold the screen. Instead of lighting up with white, the screen should now show a few seconds of different flashing colors (if you lift your finger it won't work) and a circle grid will appear next, which is a music sequencer.

A grid of dots is displayed allowing marking with bass drum, snare, bell and cymbal hits, just mark the different hits in the sequence to create complete drum rhythms. It should be noted that the beat is fixed at 135 BPM and cannot be changed.

Bass Drum: blue circles

Snare drum: turquoise circles

Bell: purple circles

Cymbals: Red circles

How to pair watch with another smartphone / Tablet without factory reset.

If you've ever wanted to pair your watch with a new smartphone or tablet, or simply upgraded your phone to a new Custom ROM, you've probably noticed that Google doesn't make it easy to pair again. The official Wear OS way requires unpairing the watch from the WearOS App and then resetting it to factory settings (which means deleting all data and apps installed on the watch), and from there you can see the new device to pair (more info on this, here), however, there is a simple way to avoid resetting the watch to zero settings.

1. If you have not already done so, follow the steps in the section "Prepare watch for advanced functions".

2. On the computer, open a command window, for this in Windows type "cmd" in the taskbar.

3. Then enter the following command to connect to the clock. Accept then a message on the clock that allows the computer to connect. The watch IP is obtained in the Wi-Fi settings. Click on your Wi-Fi network.

adb connect IP_of_watch:5555

4. Now, enter this command to clear data from Google services. On reboot it will automatically re-sync your personal data with the servers, the only thing I have detected that you have to configure manually is Google Pay (I guess for security issues), but come on, it's a 1 minute process.

adb shell pm clear com.google.android.gms
adb reboot

5. Once rebooted, connect the phone again with the first command and enter the second command where the Bluetooth of the watch is requested to be discoverable, the phone can then find the watch and pair it.

adb connect IP_of_watch:5555

adb shell am start -a android.bluetooth.adapter.action.REQUEST_DISCOVERABLE

Alternative:

If your watch is rooted, you can avoid yourself the steps described above by installing Reset Wear Client app on the phone (phone does not need to be rooted), i.e. delete the Google services data and start a new pairing.

How to stay informed about Wear OS.

To be informed about Wear OS and the different Wear OS watches there are certain known media where they publish first hand news and leaks, which I spread here:

9to5Google.com - I think it's my favorite, a lot of news and leaks are published here first.​

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AndroidAuthority.com​

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AndroidPolice.com​

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AndroidCentral.com​

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DroidLife.com​

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SamMobile - Here they first publish everything related to Samsung watches.​

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XDA-Developers.com - Very interesting, it also publishes firsts about Wear OS.​

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Google Help Community - Wear OS - Google makes official announcements from here.​

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The Keyword Blog - Wear OS - Official Google Blog​

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How to solve doubts about Wear OS.

Of course in this forum, and specifically in this thread you can solve any doubt about Wear OS, but there are more places to solve questions.

Forums:

XDA-Developers.com (Wear OS Development and Hacking) - This forum, fantastic but not very active.​

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reddit.com - Wear OS - The U.S. forum is undoubtedly the most active one.​

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Google Help Community - Wear OS - Wear OS Official Forum​

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mobvoi.com - Ticwatch Official Forum​

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Telegram Groups:

TicWatch Pro 3 GPS LTE and TicWatchGTH - Group with more than 150 members, as any group of this type is chaotic, good place to ask questions and receive a quick answer, although not always satisfactory, actually.​

Facebook Groups:

Wear OS - Wear OS public group. More than 1200 members.​

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The Official Mobvoi TicWatch and earphones Group - Private group. Mobvoi makes its official announcements and firmware update notifications here first. More than 6000 members.​

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Ticwatch Pro Community - Public group on Ticwatch with more than 1500 members.​

Twitter:

Wear OS by Google - Wear OS official twitter account.​

How to Record the watch screen (ScreenCast)

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In Wear OS it is possible to record in video everything that happens on the watch screen, without installing third-party applications, you just need to connect the watch via Wifi to a PC and use the command "screenrecord" of adb. It is a very useful tool to show in a clear way, for example an error that is occurring on your watch, instead of a simple screenshot.

If you haven't done it yet, follow the steps in the "Prepare watch for advanced features" section of the first post (Install ADB tools on the PC and enable debugging via WIFI in developer options on the watch).

On the computer, open a command window, for this in Windows type "cmd" in the start bar.

Then enter the following command to connect to the watch. Then accept a message on the watch that allows the computer to connect.

adb connect Watch_IP:5555

Execute the following command, it will start recording in video everything displayed on the watch screen. To stop recording press Control + C keys from the command line. The resulting video is saved in the watch itself in a raw format file, i.e. unprocessed and therefore with a very large size depending on the seconds you have recorded.

adb shell screenrecord --size 454x454 --o raw-frames /sdcard/screencast.raw

Once you have captured the video, you must move it to your PC for further processing with the following commands. The first one to copy the raw video to the PC and the second command to remove it from the internal memory of the watch.

adb pull /sdcard/screencast.raw
adb shell rm -f /sdcard/screencast.raw

Finally, you need to convert the raw video file that is in raw format into a video that most video players can understand, for that type the following command to convert the raw file to mp4 with the help of the ffmpeg tool.

ffmpeg -f rawvideo -vcodec rawvideo -s 454x454 -nostats -loglevel 0 -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 10 -i screencast.raw -an -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p screencast.mp4

Considerations:

I have generated a batch file that facilitates the process of recording the screen, copying the RAW file to the PC and converting it to MP4 format for those who want to get complicated with ADB commands. The batch file is only valid for Windows environment. You can download it from here, unzip the files in a folder, along with the BAT file is included ADB Tools and ffmpeg that are necessary for the tool to work.

If you want to record when and where you are tapping the screen during a screencast you have to enable "Show taps" in Settings > Developer Options. This option will circle the areas you are tapping with your finger on the screen, which is very handy for screencasts.

Video is recorded without sound.

The video is recorded on the watch in raw format, once on the PC the raw file can be converted to mp4. The raw files allow to obtain an image without any compression, as a consequence, the size of the .RAW files is very large, for example, 3 minutes of recording will occupy in raw format almost 1 Gigabyte (when converted to mp4 it will occupy only 2 Megabytes).

When recording, it continues until you press Ctrl + C or in theory until the time limit is reached (3 minutes) and then it would stop automatically, however I have observed that it continues recording beyond 3 minutes (even if you set it in the parameters of the command "adb shell screenrecord"), I guess the limit is in the free space in the storage memory, which taking into account the size of the raw files will occupy very fast.

Another alternative to make recordings of the watch screen, is from the phone with Bugjaeger app (instead of the PC) however it is an option limited to the paid version of the app.

Some time ago, it was leaked that Google is going to include the option to record watch screen in the Wear OS app on the phone, but it is not yet available.

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Wear OS watch accessories

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There are few types of accessories for watches, these are reduced to protective items (screen protector and case cover), charging items (cables and charging docks) and straps.

Screen protector: Consists of protecting watchface by resisting scratches and accidental bumps. These protectors can also prevent fingerprints or grease or dust stains on the dial. The ones that offer the best protection are those of tempered glass with 9H hardness.

Case cover: This is a flexible TPU protective case to protect the bezel and case of the watch from scratches and possible shocks.

Charger cable: Unlike android smartphones where the cable is the same for all models (microusb or USB type C) the same does not happen in smartwatches where each model has its own connector on the charging cable, even within each brand, for example, the Ticwatch Pro charging cable does not serve to charge the Ticwatch Pro 3.

Dock (charging base): It is basically a charging cable with a support where the watch is supported. They usually have a minimalist design that will look good on any desk or nightstand.

Strap: Replacing the strap is to give a complete facelift to the watch, a good combination can give a touch of extra style to your watch, in the market there is a lot of variety because most of the models allow to replace the strap with another as long as they have the same width. Below I put a table with the width that corresponds to each model of the most notable watches, for example, Ticwatch Pro 3 supports 22mm straps. Within the types of strap, by the material with which they have been manufactured you can find leather straps, imitation leather, stainless steel, titanium, platinum, silicone, resin, rubber, textile, nylon and ceramic.

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Where and how to search for a watch accessory?

The Asian market such as AliExpress is the one where you can find the widest variety of accessories with the best price, on Amazon you will also find accessories but as a general rule although you will receive the product before they are more expensive.​

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To search for a particular accessory and narrow the search to the maximum, just type in the search box of AliExpress, Amazon or even Google accessory name + watch model. In the case of straps you only have to write the width of the strap, you can even include the type of strap material to narrow down much more what you are looking for.​

Screen Protector : Screen Protector Fossil Gen 5

Case Protector: case Protector Ticwatch Pro

Charging Cable: Charging Cable Xiaomi Mi Watch

Charging Dock: Charging dock Ticwatch Pro 3

Strap: 22 mm strap watch

Accessories for Ticwatch Pro 3

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Screen Protector --> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...exp_id=c43d3fd5-4faf-45f6-ad60-78d5a3543b5c-0​

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Case Protector --> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...exp_id=38c5e981-ce88-4786-8a99-5873ff98db3b-1​

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Charging Dock --> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...exp_id=07669828-db64-4aa2-96c8-aa80200b4567-2​

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Charging Cable --> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...exp_id=53d63e1c-b909-4345-93ea-26e2ccbb0532-1​

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Strap 22 mm --> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...xp_id=f975d777-8fb1-4067-8ab9-921ef29176bb-19​

Bonus Track.

How to make a homemade charging and data cable for Ticwatch Pro 3

The official TW3 charger cable unusually only charges (it has 2 pins that only serve to charge the watch), it does not sync data unlike the Ticwatch Pro, Ticwatch S or Ticwatch E that its official charger cable has 4 pins (2 for charging and 2 for data transfer). For most users this will never become a problem, since sending music and files to the watch can be done without problems via Wi-Fi, however, there is something that can ONLY be done via USB cable, and that is to unlock the bootloader (previous step needed to root). Currently the way to root has not been discovered, although there are already users researching a way to get it and when you get the way a data cable will be required. Curiously there is still no such cable for sale for the TW3 that I know of, not even on AliExpress.​

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There are users who have managed to make a homemade cable using the Ticwatch S/E cable as a base. Here is the explanation provided by @Gitanitos for those who want to try:​

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Purchase a Ticwatch S/E charger cable, you can get it on Amazon or Aliexpress without any difficulty, here a link to purchase.

Open the Ticwatch S/E charger cable housing by cutting the plastic around the pogo pins, this way you will lower the profile of the housing so that the pins "reach" the watch.

Remove the magnets that are glued to the case and place them on the reverse side. This is because they do not match the polarity of those of the TW3 clock and if you do not change them you will not be able to place the clock because the reverse attraction will prevent you from placing it on top of the pins.

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Bonus Track 2.

How to 3D print a charging dock.

There are downloadable templates on the internet to print the docking station for the watch (in my case I found a few for my watch, Ticwatch Pro 3). I found them even nicer than the ones on the market. They are basically the casings with just the right size to place the serial cable of the watch. Basically it would be to download the template file and go to a 3D printing store (if you don't have a printer, of course). It cost me 10 €.

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Here are links to some templates for the Ticwatch Pro 3:

Ticwatch Pro 3 stand with wider base by groan

Mobvoi TicWatch 3 Standby vetruvet October 08, 2020This is a remix from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4618850This is the exact same model but I widened the base. Does not tip as easily now.

www.thingiverse.com

Mobvoi TicWatch 3 Stand by vetruvet

Stand for Mobvoi TicWatch 3. Shape matches back of watch to provide support so it's not just hanging on the magnetic charger. Prints on its side, supports needed for cutout for charger.Charger cutout has hole in the back so it's easier to get it out once it's seated in there. Clips on the back...

www.thingiverse.com

Ticwatch pro 3 charging stand by stefanhar

Charging stand designed for Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS.Carger slides into stand from the bottom up to a stop at the top and is held in place by a friction fit.Watch holder has a cut out for sensors on the back of the watch.The cable of the charging plug is designed to hold the plug in place, this is...

www.thingiverse.com

For other watches (Missfit, xiaomi, Oppo...) you can use the search engine thingiverse.com , cults3d.com y pinshape.com, you will surely find the template for each watch model.

Compilation of all the games adapted to Wear OS

A reddit user compiled all the games for Wear OS that exist to date.​

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https://www.reddit.com/r/WearOS/comments/qkjfqy
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In several lists on the net they recommend these games among all those for Wear OS. Because of the obvious discomfort of playing on such a small screen, I personally don't play any of them on the watch, but here they are, for the knowledge of those who are interested.​

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2048​

Infinity Loop​

PetQuest Virtual Pet​

Combat Wear ​

Hex - Anxiety Relief​

Wear Maze​

Snake for Wear​

General Knowledge Quiz​

Bubble Shootix​

Bugdroid Land​

Math it!​

Sookie Says ​

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How to scale the interface of your apps in Wear OS (WearModder)

Hello, I find it a very interesting project and would like to give visibility to the tutorial in this post, the script works well with current APKs although of course improvable, I encourage whoever has knowledge to develop a new update of the script.

There are apps installed on Wear OS (especially those that come from Android) that have a giant interface and do not adapt well to the small size of the watch screen, which prevents to reach certain options from the watch. The guide allows you to change the density of a given app without affecting the density of the rest of the apps on the watch, WearModder was developed by user @moneytoo. Unfortunately, the tool has not been updated for at least 2 years, however the WearModder source code is available here (in java) for those who have knowledge and want to improve it, also another developer has ported the tool to Python, also available from this other link.

Both the script and the steps to use it are simple, so anyone can try it with their favorite applications.

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What does WearModder do?​

The WearModder tool is a small script that modifies the density of an APK to fit the size of the watch. The script automatically does the following:

Replaces all sizes (dip/sp in layouts, dimens, etc.).

Sets centered alignment of the bottom tab layout

Sets custom height for action bar (in ActionBarSize element)

Set horizontal margin for toolbar (home screen only)

Prerequisites:​

Download and install the Java 8 tool (JRE 1.8) from here.

Download APKTool from here (tool for decompiling APK files)

Download WearModder from here in java or from here in Python (tool to modify the density of APK files).

If you use WearModder for Python, download and install Python from here.

The Guide. How to change the density of an app or game on Wear OS​

Rename Apktool file you downloaded to "apktool.jar" (no version) and Wearmodder file you downloaded to "wearmodder.jar" (no version).

Place in the same folder apktool.jar file, Wearmodder.jar file and APK file you want to modify its density.

Now open a command line in that folder and enter the following to decompile APK file.

Java -jar apktool.jar d apk_name.apk

Once decompiled, enter the following to modify apk resources:

- With Java version: java -jar WearModder.jar apk_name/res
- With Python version: python ./wearmodder.py ./apk_name/res

According to the author of the guide additional manual adjustments must be made, however he does not give any guidelines nor has he developed this step, I suppose it is not always necessary.

Build APK file again. The modified APK file will be saved in "/apk_name/dist/" folder.

java -jar apktool.jar b apk_name

Enter the following commands to sign it. It will ask you for a new password and some other information.

keytool -genkey -v -keystore my-key.keystore -alias alias_name -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 10000
jarsigner -verbose -sigalg SHA1withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -keystore my-key.keystore apk_name/dist/apk_name.apk alias_name

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Considerations:​

Make sure you have the environment variable set for Java so that Java can be run from any folder, the same for Python if you are going to use the Python version of WearModder. Here is a guide to add the environment variable for python and here for Java.

In step 3, 4, 6 and 7 replace in the command "apk_name" with the name of APK file to be modified.

In step 7 replace "my-key" and "alias_name" with the name of the password and alias storage you want.

If you have problems using WearModder in Java, you can use WearModder ported to Python. When I tested with Seven app (apk of the capture)), java version modified the APK but when I built the APK again something was wrong, with the Python version I modified and built with ApkTool the app perfectly.

Do not run WearModder more than once on the same file that you have already altered.

How to make a homemade charging and data cable for Ticwatch Pro 3 (easiest method)

The official charger cable of TWP3 unusually only charges (it has 2 pins that only serve to charge the watch), it does not synchronize data unlike the Ticwatch Pro, Ticwatch S or Ticwatch E that its official charger cable has 4 pins (2 for charging and 2 for data transfer). For most users this will never be a problem, since sending music and files to the watch can be done without problems via Wi-Fi, however, there is something that can ONLY be done through the USB cable, and that is to unlock the bootloader (previous step needed to root). Currently, it has already been discovered how to root and flash Custom ROMs, and for them a data cable is absolutely necessary. Curiously, there is still no such cable for sale for TWP3, as far as I know, not even on AliExpress.

There are users who have managed to make a homemade cable using the Ticwatch Pro charger cable as a base. Here goes the solution provided by @yesimxev from Xda-Developers forum for those who want to try, this method is much simpler than the previous one since it is not necessary to cut the profile of the case or change the polarity of the magnets.

Prerequisites:

USB charger housing for TIcwatch Pro 3. 3D print the housing model from this link at a local 3D printing store. To have the best finish, pay attention to the suggestions of material and qualities that they tell you in the store, as a reference I ordered the case with the following material and quality, it cost me about €9:

- Material: PLA 3D850​

- Quality: High​

- Filling: 20%.​

Charger for Ticwatch Pro, buy it at this link on AliExpress (€4 approx.). From this charger you will take advantage of the plate (which comes with the 4 pins) and the screws for fastening the plate.

2 5 mm round magnets, or the 2 rectangular magnets from the Ticwatch Pro charger.

Steps:

On the Ticwatch Pro charger, lift with a cutter or a knife the rubber ring that surrounds the back of the charger, underneath are 4 screws that you will have to unscrew.

Unscrew the 2 screws on the plate and carefully remove the plate from the housing.

Place the board in the case you have printed, and use the 2 screws you used in the previous step to fix the board in the case, to prevent the pins from sliding down when you place the watch on top of it.

Glue the 2 magnets on both sides of the board, if you have round magnets, insert them into the round holes on the sides of the board.

Screw on the back cover (4 screws) and you are done.

Considerations:

The pins should protrude through the holes in the case just enough to touch the charging area of the watch.

TUSITA TWP charger sold on Amazon is not suitable for this DIY, the plate is different and does not fit the case.

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Step 1 and 2

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Step 3 and 4​

How to customize ringtones, notifications and Alarms sounds in Wear OS

In Wear OS 2 watches settings options, there is NO OPTION to change the default alarm and notification sounds, there is an option to change ringtone (but only from 11 internal ringtones of the watch).

On Galaxy Watch 4/5 you can change the ringtone and notification sound (but only between 10 internal sounds for ringtones and 10 sounds for notifications), I think you can't change alarm sound.

The thing is that I got bored with notification and alarm sounds, and I did some research, I found out the way to put any sound file in system sounds without root or anything similar, it's through ADB commands:

1. Get a sound you like for ringtone, notification or alarm sound, and save it to a folder on your computer.

2. If you have not done it yet, prepare watch for advanced functions:

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- On the watch, go to Settings > system > About and repeatedly tap "Build number" until You see a message that says 'You are now a developer'. Then go to Settings > developer options and enable 'ADB debugging' and 'Debugging over Wi-Fi '.​

- On your computer, download and install the ADB tools, such as Tiny ADB & Fastboot.​

3. On the computer, open a command window, for this in Windows type "cmd" in the start bar, and go to the folder where the sound file is located with the following command.

4. Next make sure that both your watch and your cell phone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, momentarily disable Bluetooth on your watch if Wi-Fi is not activated on the watch. Now go to Settings > Connectivity > Wi-Fi, click on the network you are connected to and write the IP you will see.

5. Then enter the following command to connect to the watch. Next, accept a message on the watch that allows the computer to connect to your watch.

6. Now you are going to send the sound file to the corresponding folder of the watch's SD Card, depending on whether it is for ringtones, notifications or alarms with one of the following commands.

7. Enter the following command to refresh the watch sound storage with the new sound, alternatively you can also restart the watch (you will have to connect the watch again). Note to which folder you have sent the file (Ringtones, Notifications or Alarms).

8. Next, list all the sounds in the SD Card of the watch with the following command, paying special attention to the ID of the sound.

9. Finally, type the following command to define the sound for ringtone, notification or alarms. Here you must type the corresponding ID.

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Considerations:​

As it is a bit confusing for those who do not have experience in ADB, I will make in the next few days a small tool for Windows to make it automatic.

In Ticwatch Pro 3, Wear OS default sound for alarms is Oxygen.ogg (ID 18) and for notifications is Tethys.ogg (ID 20). If you want to return to the default sounds, just put that ID in the command of point 9.

For all other watches, you can use the following command to display the IDs of all internal watch sounds.

I have not fully confirmed this, but in addition to OGG sound files I believe MP3, WAV or AMR files are also supported.

WhatsApp, everything you can do on Wear OS

WhatsApp does not have an official version for Wear OS at the moment, however, there are still a few ways to use WhatsApp from the watch. Many of them are well known to everyone (especially since the notifications, of course), but I thought it would be interesting to gather all the ways I know.

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1. From the watch notifications:​

From the notifications, you can interact in various ways with WhatsApp (as long as the watch is paired to an Android phone). Wear OS is pretty good at managing notifications, and in the case of WhatsApp notifications they work especially well. The truth is that all the basics can be done, and there are a few functions that can't, such as video calls or voice notes. It must also be said is that all the functions you can perform from the watch depend on someone having written you before:​

Read WhatsApp messages that the WhatsApp phone has received.

Mark a message as read.

View photos and stickers received by the phone's WhatsApp.

Reply to messages:

With predefined replies.

Manually, with the keyboard, or by dictating the message (voice to text).

With emojis, you will have to draw it to send the emoji you are looking for.

Receive notification of WhatsApp voice calls and accept them (for now, only in Wear OS 3).

2. From Google Assistant:

From the Google Assistant on the watch, you can send messages to a specific person with the following voice command:​

Send a WhatsApp to Susana, Let's meet at 3 o'clock.

Currently, this does not work properly on Wear OS 2, but it does work on Wear OS 3, i.e. Galaxy Watch 4/5 and future watches with Wear OS 3 will be able to take advantage of this feature.​

3. Using third-party apps (Companion):​

These types of Apps are not full versions of WhatsApp, they are add-ons that modify and enhance Wear OS notification panel.​

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a. Informer, with this app you can receive messages (and reply to them), receive photos, receive stickers, and more:​

Receive and view videos and GIFs (GW4 only).

Receive WhatsApp voice call notifications.

Receive and listen to voice messages (premium version only).

Accept WhatsApp calls and video calls (premium version only).

Unfortunately, receiving WhatsApp voice messages and calls is only available in the Premium subscription version (€0.99/month or €6.49/year). For it to work you must install the app on the phone and watch.​

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b. Messages for Wear OS, is another third-party app, you can also view the photos and videos you receive via WhatsApp, as well as view hyperlinks, open links in a web browser or even open YouTube links. Although the app also has a premium version, all the functions for WhatsApp are available in the Free version. Like the Informer app, the phone version and the watch version must also be installed.​

4. Using third-party apps (WhatsApp Web multi-device):​

This type of app takes advantage of the WhatsApp Web service. This feature, launched by WhatsApp in 2015 and updated in 2021, allows you to use your WhatsApp account on PC, Mac, Linux or also on Wear OS watches. The service can work independently of the phone (you can be away from the phone or even have it turned off). It is only necessary to link through a QR code the watch app with WhatsApp on the phone and ready, you can see in real time and synchronized messages, images and more on the watch.​

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WhatsWatch, is currently the only functional app that is based on WhatsApp Web Multi-device, however, is paid (€3.59). With the app you can access all your conversations (and see all messages, photos and videos received, or listen to voice messages), also send text messages and voice messages. The interface is a bit ugly, but it is expected to be much more visual in future updates.​

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I have not found more projects that are based on WhatsApp Web. There are projects that are based on this service, but not aimed at Wear OS, such as WhatsApp Web To Go. Taking into account that the official WhatsApp client is not Open Source and you can not create forks of WhatsApp for Android on Wear OS, I consider that the development of Apps that use the WhatsApp Web service in an app for Wear OS is the most interesting way to have WhatsApp almost complete on the watch.​

5. With WhatsApp app for Android in Wear OS:​

Finally, there is a trick to install and use an official Android version of WhatsApp on the watch. This version is almost fully functional on the watch: you can send and receive messages, view full conversations, watch videos, listen to voice memos and send them, make WhatsApp calls; however, curiously it does not allow you to pick up WhatsApp calls you receive (the solution is to call back the contact who just called).​

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Using an Android version on the watch has three (albeit salvageable) drawbacks:​

You cannot use the same phone number as the WhatsApp number on your phone. WhatsApp, for now, is not multi-device (unlike Telegram), this means that you cannot register WhatsApp on your phone and on your watch at the same time. The solution would be to hire a new phone number with a low cost phone operator that has no monthly fees (only calls and data expenses) and register WhatsApp from the watch with that number, in this way, you can use this WhatsApp client, if the watch also has 4G/LTE connectivity you can receive and send messages (and the rest of the features of WhatsApp for Android), for example, when you are away from the phone doing sports you could send urgent WhatsApp to what would be the "WhatsApp from the watch".

The WhatsApp screen is not optimized for Wear OS and there are parts that are not seen, it is logical, this app was not designed for such small screens. You can decrease the screen density with ADB commands: "adb shell wm density 240". To return to default density type "adb shell wm density reset".

You cannot start a conversation directly by opening the app on the watch, you must use a "bridge" app (step 5) or receive a message to be able to open WhatsApp.

The steps to follow to use the full version of WhatsApp are as follows:​

Download latest version of WhatsApp from APKMirror, you must download armeabi-v7a variant.

Install the APK file from the phone using Bugjaeger method, or from the PC via ADB commands.

On the watch, go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > App Permissions > WhatsApp and grant all permissions, also go to Settings > Apps & Notifications > App Notifications > Show All > WhatsApp and enable notifications.

Open the app and register your phone number (must be different from the phone's WhatsApp), once the registration is finished, WhatsApp will close and does not allow you to open it from the WhatsApp icon.

Install Voz a Texto app from Play Store. Open the app, press the microphone icon and dictate a message, accept and then press the share icon, then press the WhatsApp icon and select the contact.

From here you will be able to see the entire conversation, and send messages, voice notes, images, videos, locations, or initiate a WhatsApp call.

Telegram, everything you can do on Wear OS.

Telegram is no longer available (officially) on Play Store, since the update to Telegram v8.0 in September 2021, the application no longer includes version for Wear OS, thus abandoning support for Wear OS, however, users who had the app installed before its disappearance still works almost normally, for example images and stickers are not received correctly.

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However, there are still a few ways to use Telegram from the watch.

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1. With Telegram Official​

This version was developed by Telegram, it is not as complete as the Android version, since this version (v1.3.2) is somewhat old, from January 2019, however, with this version you can see all conversations (including conversations in groups and channels), you can view photos, videos, listen to voice notes, send messages, send voice notes. It is phone independent, and if your watch has 4G/LTE connectivity, you can use Telegram without depending on the phone or Wi-Fi signal.​

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If you want to reinstall Telegram, you must follow these steps:.​

Download and install the latest available version of Telegram for Wear OS from APKMirror, v1.3.2. You can easily install the app from your phone with the help of the Bujaeger app or from your PC via ADB commands.

If you have Telegram on the phone paired to the watch, momentarily turn on airplane mode.

Open the app and log in: enter your phone number and now disable the airplane mode on the phone. You will receive the security code to verify your identity by SMS (or in a Telegram chat, if you have it open at the same time) and enter it on the watch.

2. With Telegram Forks​

Telegram, unlike WhatsApp, is Open Source, which means that anyone with knowledge can develop an app based on the official one, currently there is a project to launch a version for Wear OS called WearGram, which will allow: to have almost all the functions available in the Android version. It will soon be available in Play Store, although it will be paid.​

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Another projects that exist are TelegramWear, Wearable-Messenger and DainoGram , there is hardly any information about these, we will also have to keep an eye out to see what comes out.​

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How to change the font style or font size of the Wear OS Interface​

1. Font Style​

On Wear OS watches that have support for changing font style, like Galaxy Watch 4 and 5, you can change it in Settings > Display > Font Style. There you can choose from a few pre-installed fonts, if you want to add another font you prefer you can install it from the Play Store or Galaxy Store and select the font style installed in Settings, however many of them are paid, if you want to add a font for free follow these steps:

On the phone, download and open zFont 3, choose the font you prefer to apply on the watch and install it on the phone. Once you have installed this new font on the phone, the font APK file will be in the android/data folder as an APK file.

On the phone, download and open APK Analyzer and locate APK's on the phone that contain the word "font" and select the one that has the name of the font you downloaded, for example 'com.monotype.android.font.samsungsans'.

Extract the font APK with the "Export APK" option and save it to your Downloads folder.

You can install it on the watch, from Bugjaeger app on the phone, or from the PC with the following commands ADB:

adb connect <IP Address>
adb install com.monotype.android.font.samsungsans.apk

Go to Settings > Display > Font Style and choose "SamsungSans" and you're done.

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On Wear OS watches that do NOT have support for changing font style from Settings it is not possible, if you do not have the watch rooted, as it requires modifying data in the root directory, however, if the watch is rooted you can change the font by replacing the default font "cheating" the system, to do this follow the steps below:

Download the font you want to use on the PC. It must be a TrueType font, these have .ttf extension. There are fonts available in Google Fonts or FontSquirrel.

List the fonts in the watch's font folder. Roboto is the default font in Wear OS. Probably, there are several files starting with Roboto in the list, for this enter the following ADB commands from this step and the following ones.

adb connect <IP Address>
adb shell ls /system/fonts

From the downloaded font in point 1, clone 4 times the file and rename the font to Roboto-Regular.tft, Roboto-Bold.tft, Roboto-Italic.tft and Roboto-BoldItalic.tft.

Copy the 4 files to the internal memory of the watch.

adb push Roboto-*.ttf /sdcard

Now you are going to access the watch's fonts folder.

adb shell
su
mount -o remount,rw /system
cd /system/fonts

Next, backup the original fonts.

mv Roboto-Regular.ttf Roboto-Regular.ttf.back
mv Roboto-Bold.ttf Roboto-Bold.ttf.back
mv Roboto-Italic.ttf Roboto-Italic.ttf.back
mv Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf.back

Next, copy the custom fonts to fonts folder.

cp /sdcard/Roboto-Regular.ttf /system/fonts
cp /sdcard/Roboto-Bold.ttf /system/fonts
cp /sdcard/Roboto-Italic.ttf /system/fonts
cp /sdcard/Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf /system/fonts

Finally, configure to write permissions for the custom fonts

chmod 644 Roboto-Regular.ttf
chmod 644 Roboto-Bold.ttf
chmod 644 Roboto-Italic.ttf
chmod 644 Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf
exit

Restart and you are done

2. Font Size

If you have vision problems or simply don't want to strain your eyes every time you look at the watch screen, you can increase the font size. Increasing (or decreasing) the font size on the screen does not change the size of other interface elements, such as application icons or the different rows of interface options (you can change this by setting the density). You will only see the font size of the interface vary.

If you go to Settings > Display > Font size, you will be able to modify the text size but only up to some limits, choosing between 3 sizes (small, normal and large).

If you would like to make the font bigger or smaller, you have to do it through ADB commands:

adb shell settings put system font_scale 1.30

For reference, here below I list the values that correspond to the font size:

0.80 (Smallest)

0.90 (Small)

1.0 (Normal)

1.10 (Large)

1.30 (Largest)

2.0 (Extra Large)

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3. Considerations:

To enter any ADB commands, you must enable developer options, and Enable ADB debugging and debugging over Wi-Fi.

Once finished entering ADB commands, disable ADB debugging to avoid draining the battery.

What is the downside if you use Galaxy Watch 4/5 paired with a phone that is NOT Samsung?

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4/5 does not offer the same experience with non-Samsung phones as it does when connected to a Samsung Galaxy device, and some of the functions are Samsung phone exclusive features that you don't get when connected to a non-Samsung device. They are as follows:

Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring.

Blood pressure (BP) monitoring

Samsung Messages App

Camera controls

"Do not disturb" mode synchronization

"Bedtime" mode

Make/receive calls when you're not connected to a phone via Bluetooth (using Wi-Fi)

Customizable AR Emoji Watch faces

In addition to restrictions by the phone you have paired, there are also restrictions by the region you are in. In this case, ECG and blood pressure monitoring is only officially available in the following countries: Austria, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

For example, in the case of the USA, it is not available due to FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval problems.

As for the watch's camera control (Viewfinder function), not even all Samsung phones are supported. According to the specifications of Camera Controller app, only the following Samsung phone models are supported:

S Series (S22, S22+, S22 ULTRA, S21, S21+, S21 ULTRA, S21 FE, S20, S20+, S20 ULTRA, S20 FE, S10, S10+, S10e, S10 Lite, S9, S9+)

Note Series (Note20, Note20 Ultra, Note10, Note10+, Note10 Lite, Note9)

Z Series (Z Fold, Z Fold2, Z Fold3, Z Flip, Z Flip3)

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Fortunately, you can use a couple of third-party apps and modifications to get some of Samsung's unique features on the Galaxy Watch 4/5

To enable ECG and blood pressure monitoring, and be able to sync with Samsung Health, you can use a modified version of Samsung Health Monitor app. This version also removes country and device restrictions and reduces the age limit to 16. More info here.

To receive SMS messages, you can alternatively use Google Messages app.

To access the phone's camera controls on the watch, you can alternatively use Camera One or Wrist Camera app. More info here. You will be able to preview the viewfinder on your watch screen, take photos away from the phone, capture videos and even record audio.

To synchronize "Do not disturb" mode and "Bedtime" mode, you can alternatively use DNDSync app. You must install the app on the watch and also on the phone.

The other functions, above outlined as make/receive calls when you're not connected to a phone via Bluetooth or customizable AR Emoji Watch faces, unfortunately there are currently no alternatives that I know of.