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A less lame Samsung Gear Apps "store"?

I like my S2 Classic a lot and find it has most of the apps I want. Two things that are really bothering me with the incredibly lame Samsung Gear Apps "store".
#1 Dear Samsung, Make a category for watch faces, put all the watch faces in there. Stop cluttering up the categories with tons of stupid watch faces. When I click on Finance, I don't want to see watch faces, I want to see financial applications for my smartwatch.
#2 Google has a Play store. You can access it on your computer in a web browser. I like to browse the web on dual 27" monitors. Why doesn't Samsung Gear Apps have a way to access the content via a web browser. It would make it lot easier to scroll past a couple dozen mis-categorized watch faces (see #1 above) if I could do it from my computer.
Cheers!

+1

Is there anyway to fake out your PC's browser to browse the app Store?

There's really not much wrong with the S2 stylistically and functionally. I have the classic and am very happy with the look, use, battery life, etc. But the app store is awful. There were supposed to be 1000 apps at launch...and there probably are, but 990 of them are watch faces. The Groupon app was just released and it's completely pointless. The mistake with that, and many other apps, is that in order to access content, it pushes to the phone. Which is the whole point of the watch, to act as an accessory where you could access info without pulling out your phone every time. So we all put down the cash to get this thing, and we'll continue to use it, but will hold out hope to see what (if any) new apps of usefulness come to Tizen.

cyko said:
I like my S2 Classic a lot and find it has most of the apps I want. Two things that are really bothering me with the incredibly lame Samsung Gear Apps "store".
#1 Dear Samsung, Make a category for watch faces, put all the watch faces in there. Stop cluttering up the categories with tons of stupid watch faces. When I click on Finance, I don't want to see watch faces, I want to see financial applications for my smartwatch.
#2 Google has a Play store. You can access it on your computer in a web browser. I like to browse the web on dual 27" monitors. Why doesn't Samsung Gear Apps have a way to access the content via a web browser. It would make it lot easier to scroll past a couple dozen mis-categorized watch faces (see #1 above) if I could do it from my computer.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there still missing good apps for S2, howerver, some was released. I found nice looking application to read ebooks, called eReader. But I didn't know how put some book files. Samsung forgot to put some file explorer!!! I found one finally to trasfer files, filesmaster, but it is too expensive for me. I hope will be better with apps, maybe tizen was wrond way, no apps, because no developers. Typically for samsung, good hardware, no software at all.

zigismall said:
Yes, there still missing good apps for S2, howerver, some was released. I found nice looking application to read ebooks, called eReader. But I didn't know how put some book files. Samsung forgot to put some file explorer!!! I found one finally to trasfer files, filesmaster, but it is too expensive for me. I hope will be better with apps, maybe tizen was wrond way, no apps, because no developers. Typically for samsung, good hardware, no software at all.
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Click to collapse
Isn't Filemaster only $3.00? That's not much to move files back and forth. It's a great app.

NoFaQ said:
Isn't Filemaster only $3.00? That's not much to move files back and forth. It's a great app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually $3 not too much. Now I can see how many things I can do with Filesmaster. Files transfer both directions, manage them (delete, copy/move, create folders, info etc), showing pictures, playing mp3 or video files. Yes, your are right, worth every cent, great stuff. I hope there will be more good apps soon.

Totally Agree
Couldn't agree more !
Really enjoying my S2 Classic with AVITAL Clock face.
Also here is a huge power saving tip, TURN OFF SVOICE Wake-Up, and turn off WIFI if not needed.
Enjoy,
Rick
cyko said:
I like my S2 Classic a lot and find it has most of the apps I want. Two things that are really bothering me with the incredibly lame Samsung Gear Apps "store".
#1 Dear Samsung, Make a category for watch faces, put all the watch faces in there. Stop cluttering up the categories with tons of stupid watch faces. When I click on Finance, I don't want to see watch faces, I want to see financial applications for my smartwatch.
#2 Google has a Play store. You can access it on your computer in a web browser. I like to browse the web on dual 27" monitors. Why doesn't Samsung Gear Apps have a way to access the content via a web browser. It would make it lot easier to scroll past a couple dozen mis-categorized watch faces (see #1 above) if I could do it from my computer.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Is there any way to access the gear s2 apps store on the web like android play to check the apps available to get.

jaime4272 said:
Is there any way to access the gear s2 apps store on the web like android play to check the apps available to get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No

Removing Bloatware, how to?

Hey everyone, first post.
I just picked up a Gear S2 classic. I started playing around with it and so far I have a few questions and issues with a couple things. I'm pairing it with my Galaxy S7.
My first and foremost concern is the removal of the stock and bloatware apps. I realize most people may use the fitness aspect of the watch, or its other built-in features, but I won't. All of the pre-installed apps are cluttering the watch for me. For example, I won't be using the email app (I use Gmail solely), Buddy, Find My Phone (I have location turned off), S Health, Running, S Voice (I thoroughly prefer Google), Samsung Pay, World Clock (it's really irritating and pointless to have 4 different clock apps on the watch. They should be lumped into one like on the phone), Messages (unless this can work with Textra), Music Player (I use another music app on my phone, although I do appreciate that this one somehow controls the music once it's started on that app on my phone). This is a make or break point for me as far as keeping or selling the watch.
Next, is the only way to use the Galaxy Apps store to have to sign into your phone with your Samsung account? I absolutely don't want to be connected to the Samsung Cloud. This is the only reason I'm not using Samsung Pay. If I sign into anything on my phone with my Samsung account, it signs my whole phone in and connects me to the darned Samsung Cloud. Many people have their information synced up there even with all sync options off, so I want to avoid this.
Third, some notifications like the ones from Snapchat are not being acknowledged by the watch at all. And yes, all notifications are selected to appear from the Gear App (Snapchat included). And no, I don't have the blacklist setting on.
I appreciate everyone's help with this, thank you so much. As much info as possible would be wonderful.

I am just wondering why you bought this watch if you don't want any of the connected features that come with it? . In any event I don't know of any way to remove pre-installed apps
Sent from my SM-T377P using XDA-Developers mobile app

cwb1231 said:
I am just wondering why you bought this watch if you don't want any of the connected features that come with it? . In any event I don't know of any way to remove pre-installed apps
Sent from my SM-T377P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean, it's supposed to be something like the best smartwatch out there in a lot of ways, and I wanted essentially an extension of my phone on my wrist that could function on its own too. I also have a Moto 360 first gen I play around with here and there, and for a first generation smartwatch, it does well. So far, with the issues outlined above, I can't really say the same about the Gear S2.

Question How to backup Watch4 app data and downloaded watch faces?

Hello community!
The built-in backup feature is extremely limited, and almost useless because it essentially backs-up only the Quick Settings screen and a handful of other Settings.
All downloaded watch faces as well as other apps (and app data) are excluded from the backup.
I have sideloaded this File Manager using EasyFireTools.
File Manager - Apps on Google Play
Fast, easy-to-use and full-featured file manager app with cloud integration.
play.google.com
This file manager allows me backup all apks, as well as connect to my phone and PC wirelessly over the network.
But the main issue is app data. None of the watch faces come with a configuration file that can be exported/ imported, so every watch face has to be setup from scratch each time.
Is there a simpler way to backup watch face configurations as well as other Apps'data?
Thanks.
RELATED POSTS
You'll find more info and related links here:
Wear OS - Facts
Hello community! In this post, I am giving you info on some aspects of Wear OS, which you may or may not know. All the details presented are based on my experience with Samsung Galaxy Watch4 (WiFi model), running on Wear OS 3.x. So they may not...
forum.xda-developers.com

I use thema watch faces (for example I use this Chrono) and it comes with a partner app on your phone to customize more settings and it has a built-in setting saver. While not all watch faces have this, it is amazing and thema has a ton available on the playstore. They're all free with limited options but the settings save options are free and a single iap for unlocking all options.

spart0n said:
I use thema watch faces (for example I use this Chrono) and it comes with a partner app on your phone to customize more settings and it has a built-in setting saver. While not all watch faces have this, it is amazing and thema has a ton available on the playstore. They're all free with limited options but the settings save options are free and a single iap for unlocking all options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen some of the watch faces from thema and others like RichFace, whose phone apps look similar.
Most of the features are locked behind a paywall. Does one have to buy each feature separately or buying once unlocks all features?
On the Play Store, they say x dollars per item. So not sure what exactly that means.

It is per watchface for thema unfortunately. But it's not unreasonable to me. Less than $2 and I use Google opinion rewards and I get $2 worth of credits in less than a month for Google play so like I said imo I don't think it's much.

spart0n said:
It is per watchface for thema unfortunately. But it's not unreasonable to me. Less than $2 and I use Google opinion rewards and I get $2 worth of credits in less than a month for Google play so like I said imo I don't think it's much.
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Click to collapse
Sure, the payment for each watch face is separate. That is obvious.
My question is regarding features inside each watch face. For example, weather update, Google Fit integration, Samsung Health integration, AOD customisations, etc. are all locked behind a paywall.
Is the payment for each of these features separate, or just a single payment is required to unlock all premium features inside the watch face?
The 'Buy premium' option is shown separately against each of the premium feature. That is what is confusing. Does the 'Buy premium' unlock all premium features inside the watch face, or just that particular feature?

TheMystic said:
Sure, the payment for each watch face is separate. That is obvious.
My question is regarding features inside each watch face. For example, weather update, Google Fit integration, Samsung Health integration, AOD customisations, etc. are all locked behind a paywall.
Is the payment for each of these features separate, or just a single payment is required to unlock all premium features inside the watch face?
The 'Buy premium' option is shown separately against each of the premium feature. That is what is confusing. Does the 'Buy premium' unlock all premium features inside the watch face, or just that particular feature?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OH I did not understand your question. Yes it's 1 payment for all features. 1 iap for everything.

spart0n said:
OH I did not understand your question. Yes it's 1 payment for all features. 1 iap for everything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They should make that clear on the store description. They say x dollars per item, hence the confusion.
Thanks for clarifying this.

spart0n said:
It is per watchface for thema unfortunately. But it's not unreasonable to me. Less than $2 and I use Google opinion rewards and I get $2 worth of credits in less than a month for Google play so like I said imo I don't think it's much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Watch faces from RichFace, Thema, and others have pretty much everything locked behind a paywall. There is no way to test and see how the watch face would look after the user configures it the way he likes.
Going through the refund process of in-app purchase is a pain. Plus there are often licence verification issues on devices with multiple Google accounts.
I would rather install a paid app, see how it looks, and opt for refund with a single click if I don't like it.

TheMystic said:
Hello community!
The built-in backup feature is extremely limited, and almost useless because it essentially backs-up only the Quick Settings screen and a handful of other Settings.
All downloaded watch faces as well as other apps (and app data) are excluded from the backup.
I have sideloaded this File Manager using EasyFireTools.
File Manager - Apps on Google Play
Fast, easy-to-use and full-featured file manager app with cloud integration.
play.google.com
This file manager allows me backup all apks, as well as connect to my phone and PC wirelessly over the network.
But the main issue is app data. None of the watch faces come with a configuration file that can be exported/ imported, so every watch face has to be setup from scratch each time.
Is there a simpler way to backup watch face configurations as well as other Apps'data?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will never be able to backup app data without root. Just to put that to bed.

73sydney said:
You will never be able to backup app data without root. Just to put that to bed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's pathetic despite Android now being over 12 years old in commercial business. This is one area where Apple products are clear winners. They allow you to backup ALL app data, even if not the app themselves.
With Wear OS, the backup doesn't even include the downloaded watch faces themselves. One can't even unpair the watch without factory resetting it. When there are such limitations, the backup should be more elaborate and include the app data, including for downloaded apps and watch faces.

TheMystic said:
That's pathetic despite Android now being over 12 years old in commercial business. This is one area where Apple products are clear winners. They allow you to backup ALL app data, even if not the app themselves.
With Wear OS, the backup doesn't even include the downloaded watch faces themselves. One can't even unpair the watch without factory resetting it. When there are such limitations, the backup should be more elaborate and include the app data, including for downloaded apps and watch faces.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been trying to find any useful information on trying to backup my Facer and WatchMaker face files to a microSd card because faces on the app I've download seem to dissappear. If I've paid for a membership I'd think I'd have the right to back them up but I haven't been able to find anything. Searching through my file manager trying to even find anything resembling watch faces or the apps themselves is like looking for a UFO at Walmart. What the heck. There has to be a way to back them up. Anyone?

According to some info people gleemed in the files in a recent Google play services update, Google is working on a more thorough backup feature for wear os but I wouldn't count on it to backup everything

I am also now trying to find this, because I had purchased watch faces that for some reason unknown have now been removed from the playstore after being there for years, I wasn't expecting to loose a number of my watch faces, wouldn't have cared so much if they were free the face was from watchfacestudio com.watchfacestudio.tagcarrera. I have now purchased another however I am worried that this will get pulled as well, and no backup.
Does anyone know any ADB or ROOT methods to backup securely these faces?
Do they work like an apk following these methods?
Watch4 ADB Commands - Disable/Enable/Uninstall/Restore system app, Install/pull Apps
Hello Everyone, I hope you all are good, So I see some on you wondering about how to uninstall, reinstall, install, pull, enable and disable apps for the watch, so I decided to make this thread to address these different scenarios, this is based...
forum.xda-developers.com

danw_oz said:
I am also now trying to find this, because I had purchased watch faces that for some reason unknown have now been removed from the playstore after being there for years, I wasn't expecting to loose a number of my watch faces, wouldn't have cared so much if they were free the face was from watchfacestudio com.watchfacestudio.tagcarrera. I have now purchased another however I am worried that this will get pulled as well, and no backup.
Does anyone know any ADB or ROOT methods to backup securely these faces?
Do they work like an apk following these methods?
Watch4 ADB Commands - Disable/Enable/Uninstall/Restore system app, Install/pull Apps
Hello Everyone, I hope you all are good, So I see some on you wondering about how to uninstall, reinstall, install, pull, enable and disable apps for the watch, so I decided to make this thread to address these different scenarios, this is based...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mentioned in the OP, you can install the file manager linked there and backup the watch faces you want, just as would backup any app on the phone. If the watch faces get booted from the Play Store or you don't find them from their original source, you can simply reinstall the apk from your backup above and it will work just fine.
No need for root to backup (and reinstall) just the watchface apk.

General Some observations about watch faces....

During this week, I was playing around with my Watch4, and this post is about some of my observations, and conclusions about the same. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong with any of them.
There are essentially two categories of 3rd party watch faces:
1. CATEGORY 1: One that uses resources within the watch itself to display information.
The Android phone app for this category of watch faces merely send the store link to the watch face so you can simply install the app from the watch itself. The Android app here has no further role and can be uninstalled from the phone. But I would recommend that they remain installed in the phone because of a specific benefit: you can quickly install these watch faces from the watch because all these appear under 'Apps in Phone' section of Google Play Store app in the watch. So instead of uninstalling, it is better to put them in deep sleep (optimised state) on the phone.
Some of the watch faces in this category are:
​01. amoledwatchfaces​02. HMKwatch (or HMKwatch)​03. Matteo Dini MD​04. Ballozi​05. Bosenko East (or Bosenko)​06. fatih sendur​07. WFProduction by A.Kovalev​08. PERSONA Watch Face​09. WINwatchface​10. Tancha Watch Faces​11. Yosash​12. Chester​13. Ntv Watchfaces​14. Active Design Watch Faces​15. Lihtnes​16. SMZ JeonDaeHyun​17. MDS​18. Digital Wings [DW]​19. SHIFR​20. EK​21. IV Watch Faces​22. Timeflik (ex Mr. Time)​23. MyWF Cartel​24. Inspire Watch​25. Prado Design​26. MW Design​27. Re: Brand​28. Amser Watch Faces​29. MW Design​30. MatveyAn​31. MDS Watch Faces​32. styles4you​33. Inspire​​and others.​
All the above watch faces are either paid or have in-app purchases. They don't come with an accompanying Android phone app for their working, with very few exceptions that need the Android app just for phone battery feature.
2. CATEGORY 2: One where the watch face connects to its companion app on the phone over bluetooth/ wifi/ nearby devices to exchange information. In this case, the companion apps on the phone must keep running in the background in order to update certain information on the watch. e.g. phone battery level, etc.
The Android phone apps for this category of watch faces usually come with ads. although there are exceptions. For these apps, I have seen that almost every feature/ customization for these apps are locked behind a paywall. Personally, I find most of them very annoying, although there are exceptions. The following are some of the developers who engage in such a practice:
No ads; only in-app purchase
1. SOOON​2. GS Watchfaces​
Ad supported; in-app purchases to unlock most features and customizations
1. RichFace​2. thema​3. Smart Art Studios​4. DeNitE Appz​​and others.​​The problem that I have noted with this Category 2 type of watch faces is that they may interfere with the connection between the phone and the watch. This is only an observation and I may be wrong. So the community can confirm or reject this observation.
In my case, the Galaxy Wear app as well as Smart Things app were having too much problems in displaying the battery level of the watch when I had this 2nd category of watch faces installed. Once I uninstalled all these, the problem seems to have been sorted. I must mention here that I had put all these companion apps in deep sleep mode on my Samsung phone. My guess as to why this created problems is because the watch faces were trying to contact their companion apps, which were not responding as they were optimized. This probably led to the connection being overwhelmed by these watch faces that resulted in the problem noted above.
UPDATE: My suspicion is probably correct. Apps and watch faces that REQUIRE a companion app on the phone are indeed the most likely culprit for this problem. The solution is to disable battery optimisation for these apps on the phone, or uninstall such apps from both the phone and the watch.​
ADDITIONAL COMPLICATIONS SUPPORT
The following apps will add support for corresponding complications for all your watch faces that support WearOS/ 3rd party complications (i.e. those that are not designed to get complications only from their own companion apps on the phone, e.g Manager by SOOON):
1. Phone Battery Complication
2. Complications Suite - Wear OS
3. Heart Rate Complication
4. Health Services Complications
5. SimpleWeather
6. SimpleWear
If you have any of the above apps installed, you'll be able to add the corresponding complication to all of your watch faces. For example, if you add the 2nd item above, you'll be able to add UTC Time, day number, week number, etc. to all your watch faces, even if they don't come with it. Same holds true of BP, and other health related complications.
RELATED POSTS
You'll find more info and related links here:
Wear OS - Facts
Hello community! In this post, I am giving you info on some aspects of Wear OS, which you may or may not know. All the details presented are based on my experience with Samsung Galaxy Watch4 (WiFi model), running on Wear OS 3.x. So they may not...
forum.xda-developers.com

Wear OS - Facts

Hello community!
In this post, I am giving you info on some aspects of Wear OS, which you may or may not know. All the details presented are based on my experience with Samsung Galaxy Watch4 (WiFi model), running on Wear OS 3.x. So they may not be representative of all the watches (and those that run on custom software like Tizen) in the market.
Let's begin:
01. You can sideload phone apps on the Watch using ADB. There are good tutorials on the internet that explain how to go about it. If the UI on the app is difficult to use, you may be able to make it usable by reducing the DPI of your watch. Again, there are good tutorials available for this on the internet. It is advisable that you restore the DPI to its default values after setting up the apps to prevent unexpected behaviour or other problems.
02. There is no support for VPN service on Wear OS. So you can't run Android Firewall apps like Netguard, Karma Firewall, etc.
03. There is no App Info page in the watch for installed apps. This means you can't delete cache or data for apps. You can only install or uninstall apps, just like in iOS. However, the app info page is available on the Galaxy Wear app (for Samsung Galaxy Watch) that will show the storage used, battery consumed, memory occupied for each app. It will also allow for force stopping and uninstalling apps on the watch from this screen.
04. You can backup your watch faces and other apps installed from Play Store (or other official stores like Galaxy Store) using an Android File Manager that supports APK backups. There is no built-in support for this though.
05. As with Android, there is NO support for backing up app data, or the configurations of watch faces. The built-in backup feature is very limited in what it does, so don't expect that you'll be able to simply restore everything after a factory reset. This is one area where iOS and WatchOS are clear winners.
06. If you reset the network settings on your phone, you'll have to factory reset your watch to pair it with your phone again. Apparently, this is for security (of your data) purposes.
07. If you are using a Samsung Galaxy watch running on Wear OS, then the Galaxy Watch Manager app on your phone is very crucial, and holds your watch's pairing key. If you delete this app's data on your phone or uninstall it, you'll have to factory reset your watch to pair it with your phone again.
08. Your watch can actually play videos, stream media, act like a FTP server, and do a few more things if you install (sideload) the right apps. I wouldn't recommend doing that regularly because the watch hardware is not designed to do these things, so you'll really be pushing the hardware if you use your watch for such activities for extended periods.
09. Unlike your phone, the displays used on smartwatches are prone to screen burn-in, especially because most of the watch faces do not offer a proper AOD feature that minimizes this risk. So choosing the right watch face is very important. Alternatively, keep changing the watch face every day or so.
10. AOD works only when you are wearing your watch. This is a good thing because it not only preserves battery, but also helps reduce screen burn-in.
RELATED POSTS
1. Top 3 to 5 Watch Faces
2. Some observations about Watch Faces
3. Checklist for choosing Watch face
4. Watch faces with support for rare complications
5. Problems with Galaxy Watch4
6. Watch battery info not syncing on phone apps
7. What can your smartwatch do
8. What features do you look for when buying a watch face