Video Player

video on the watch · Wear OS + Android

Video Player is for the treadmill, the flight and the queue — watching something on your wrist without carrying the phone. Videos are moved onto the watch first, so nothing is streaming and nothing needs a signal.

  • Plays without the phone
  • Wifi transfer
  • Compresses before sending

The Video Player tile

On the wrist

The videos you sent, played full screen on the watch.

On the phone

Pick videos, shrink them to a size a watch can hold, push them across.

How it works

Three steps, and none of them is a settings screen.

  1. Step 1

    On the phone, pick the videos you want. The app compresses them first, because a watch has little room.

  2. Step 2

    Send them over your wifi. The watch receives in the background and tells you when it is done.

  3. Step 3

    Leave the phone. The watch lists what it holds and plays any of it full screen.

What it does

Everything Video Player is, in full.

  • Compression before transfer

    The phone shrinks a video to a size that suits a watch screen and a watch disk, so a long clip is a realistic thing to carry.

  • Wifi, not Bluetooth

    Transfers go over your local network, which is what makes moving a video file across finish in a reasonable time.

  • Playback is standalone

    The watch app is declared standalone. Once a video is on the watch, playing it needs neither the phone nor a connection.

Permissions

What it asks for, and why.

Videos stay on your phone and your watch and are never uploaded. The app does send anonymous usage and crash reports to Google Firebase, and the premium upgrade is bought through Google Play. Read the privacy policy.

Videos
Reads the videos on the phone that you pick to send. Nothing else is looked at.
Nearby devices
Finds your watch over Bluetooth so the two apps can agree on a transfer.
Local network
Carries the video itself between phone and watch over your own wifi.
Notifications
Shows transfer progress while it runs in the background.

What you need

Two devices, no account.

Watch
Wear OS 4.0 or newer
Phone
Android 10 or newer
Pairing
Two of three run standalone
Data
Your files never leave your devices

More

The other apps.

  • FileManager

    files on the watch

  • Camera Wear

    camera remote