Samsung’s forgotten web browser now works on the latest Galaxy smartwatches

Everyone has a favorite internet browser, don’t they? Google Chrome and Safari are must-haves, Firefox is still on the go, and Microsoft Edge has sort of established itself as a beloved underdog. But when it comes to surfing the web with your smartwatch, the options are naturally more limited. By bringing its own browser to its latest smartwatches, Samsung can make things easier for smartwatch users while also reminding people of the existence of the browser.

As spotted by 9to5Google, the Samsung internet browser is now available on the Google Play Store for Samsung smartwatches using Wear OS, namely the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic. The browser is already available for the company’s older Tizen watches, such as the Galaxy Watch Active 2, and the Samsung internet user is also available on their phones and tablets. In fact, Samsung devices often come preloaded with the app, but since many also run Android, and therefore ship with Google Chrome, Samsung’s alternative often goes unused, if not unnoticed.

But the needs for watch-based web browsing are a bit different, and as detailed by 9to5Google, exploring the internet on your wrist can be easier than you think with the Samsung internet browser. For example, you can swipe diagonally left or right to grab a web page. Swiping up reveals handy features like bookmarking, zooming, or the ability to send a web page to your phone. Samsung’s internet browser search button takes you to your favorite search engine, be it Google, DuckDuckGo, or Bing.

This is a handy little gesture for Wear OS users that matches Google’s promise this year to make everyday apps, such as its own Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Pay, more accessible on portable devices. In the spring, Google also added tools for developers to create “new and rebuilt apps.”

In the meantime, Samsung’s internet browser may finally gain some more attention.