There is much to say about using the watch to listen to music, and we have written entire articles about it. Therefore, this will be more of a summary than detailed instructions.
Connect headset
First of all, you obviously need a Bluetooth headset that is connected to the watch. All watches have Bluetooth support, that's how they communicate with the phone, so that part is not a problem. Where you find the Bluetooth settings to pair the watch varies with which watch you have. Example: On the Apple Watch, you find it under Settings/Bluetooth. On Samsung's Galaxy Watch series and other watches with Wear OS, it's under Settings/Connections/Bluetooth.
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It helps if you have a headset with support for Bluetooth multipoint, meaning you can have two or more devices connected to the headset at the same time, so you can have it connected to both the watch and the phone. Otherwise, you have to keep disconnecting from the phone and connecting to the watch all the time, which can feel cumbersome.
Three ways to listen to music and podcasts on the watch
There are basically three ways to listen to music or podcasts on the watch. Either you upload songs and podcast episodes in the form of MP3 files to the watch and play them in a music player. Or you install a streaming or podcast app where you download playlists or podcast episodes in advance before leaving your wifi connection. Finally, if you have a watch with esim and a subscription for it, you can simply stream music and podcasts to the watch without downloading them in advance.
Most people probably no longer have their music as MP3 files, but if you're a bit old school, or maybe make music yourself, it can still be an interesting option. On newer watches, the function is rarely pre-installed, but if you search for MP3 Player in Google's app store, you will find players for watches with Google's Wear OS. For Apple Watch, you can load mp3 files into the Apple Music program on the computer and then get that music into the phone and watch.
Streaming to the watch without downloading in advance is of course convenient and flexible, but the watch's battery life becomes extremely short. When we tried streaming Spotify on the Galaxy Watch 6, we drained the watch's battery in two hours. The question is whether the inconvenience of downloading what you want to listen to in advance is not less than having to charge the watch after two hours.
The conclusion is that the main scenario for listening to music and podcasts should be considered to use a streaming app where you download the content in advance.
Spotify
For most Swedes, Spotify is probably the main option for streaming music, and perhaps for listening to podcasts as well. Spotify's app is available for Apple Watch, Garmin watches with music support, and for Galaxy Watch 4 and later and other manufacturers' watches with Wear OS.
You must have a Spotify Premium subscription to be able to save playlists for listening on the watch.
Other services
Apple Music is of course available for Apple Watch, and Youtube Music is available for watches with Wear OS, such as Galaxy Watch. Youtube Music is also available for Garmin watches with music support. The streaming service Deezer is available for both Apple Watch, Wear OS, and Garmin. Tidal is only available for Apple Watch at the time of writing.
Popular podcast apps like Pocket Casts are available for Wear OS and Apple Watch, but may require a plus subscription. If you search for podcast apps in the watch's app store, you can find lesser-known free alternatives for listening to podcasts.
Other watch systems
Many manufacturers have their own watch systems, where perhaps Huawei and Xiaomi are best represented in Sweden (Xiaomi also makes watches with Wear OS). These watches do not support installing apps nor our popular streaming services, but on Huawei's watches, you can load MP3 files and listen as long as you do it via an Android phone. The support is missing when you sync to an iPhone.
Be aware of your surroundings
This applies of course whether you have your mobile with you or not, but if you run with music in your ears, it's easy to miss, for example, the ringing of a bicycle bell. Most tight-fitting headsets have a hear-through mode, which means that the microphones on the headset are used to record the surrounding sounds and play them back in the headset so you can hear what's happening around you. We recommend that you turn on hear-through on your headset when you're out running to reduce the risk of accidents.
