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Google explains what to do if you can’t set up Assistant on Samsung Galaxy Watch 5

The first Samsung customers are beginning to receive the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro, and Google has some “important” advice for those that are having trouble getting Assistant for Wear OS up and running.

Setting up Google Assistant for Wear OS requires your Android phone after installing/updating and opening the app on your watch. You have to explicitly “Activate” Assistant, optionally enable the “Hey Google” hotword, and turn on personal results. More options are available in system Settings.

Google is warning customers about unspecified “issues with setting up Google Assistant” on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series. If the process fails, the company says it is “best to wait for 15 minutes once your watch setup is complete” before trying again:

Important:

• If you own a Samsung Galaxy watch 5 series and have issues with setting up Google Assistant, before you reattempt setup, it’s best to wait for 15 minutes once your watch setup is complete.

It’s a peculiar but simple enough instruction, and we’ve not faced any issues on the units we have. [Note: Google tells us Assistant is not pre-installed on the Galaxy Watch 5.]

Users might have been inclined to repeat the set-up flow immediately after the initial failure and get frustrated when it doesn’t work again. They might not reattempt for some time, and miss out on Google Assistant. Fortunately, the wait isn’t too long and hopefully gets addressed in the future as this makes for an unideal out-of-box experience.

More on Google Assistant:

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