Tutorial
PLAYLISTS
There are five built-in playlists which are auto-populated:
New: All new episodes (ordered by date)
Latest: The latest episodes of all your podcasts (ordered by date)
Files: Custom audio files (see below)
In Progress: All episodes not finished (ordered by saved position, latest at the top)
Downloads: All downloaded episodes
You can add custom playlists through the phone or watch app and reorder or hide playlists in the Playlist settings (see below).
CUSTOM FILES
You can upload custom audio files to your watch (must accept the "Manage Files" permission on your watch) to any of these folders:
/sdcard/Podcasts
/sdcard/Music
/sdcard/Audiobooks (if available)
If the "Audiobooks" folder is not available, upload your files to the "Podcasts" or "Music" folders. All files in each folder will be combined into a single playlist called "Files".
You can also use the phone app to send custom audio files to your watch (one file at a time). Due to transfer limits between the phone and watch, it is not recommended to send large files with the phone app (> 20 MB). Manually upload large files to one of the folders above. Files sent using the phone app can also be played on the phone.
Starting with WearOS 3, files manually uploaded (not using phone app) must be also manually deleted off the watch.
KEYWORD MONITORING
In the phone settings you can enter a list of keywords (comma separated). Any episode that contain a keyword will be added to a selected playlist. Selecting the "Downloads" playlist will auto-download that episode. You can also monitor your Watch List podcasts for keywords.
Warning: Selecting the "Downloads" playlists or enabling the auto-download setting may result in a large number of downloads at once depending on your keywords.
The keywords "Auto-download" setting has priority over the "Auto-download" setting in the watch app (Settings -> Downloads) for the playlist you select for keywords. For example, if you select a playlist called "Keywords" and disable auto-downloading for keywords but enable auto-downloading in the watch app, any episode you manually add to the "Keywords" playlist will not be auto-downloaded. This is to avoid potentially downloading a large number of episodes at a once. The best practice is to have a dedicated playlist for keyword episodes.
WATCH LIST
The Watch List is a collection of podcasts you can monitor before subscribing to them on your watch. You can send individual episodes to your watch or assign them to a playlist.
PODCAST SETTINGS (long-press on podcast)
Auto-Download: Downloads the latest episodes to your watch for offline playback
Download Number: Select the number of episodes to auto-download if you want more then the latest
Sort By: The order of episodes (overrides global setting)
Playback Speed: Speed of playback (overrides global setting)
Number of Episodes: Number of episodes to display (overrides global setting)
Assign to Playlist: Automatically assigned new episodes to a playlist
Start At: Select a time where episodes will start if you want to skip intros
Notification: If disabled, this podcast will be excluded from the new episodes notification
GLOBAL SETTINGS
DISPLAY
Theme: Select the app's theme
Header Color: Changes the header color for both phone and watch app
Home Screen: The screen that is displayed when the app opens (both phone and watch)
Tile Screen: The screen displayed in the Tile
Ambient Display
Disable Ambient Display: Disables app's custom low-power display when the app is idle
Ambient Weather: Display the current weather for your location on the ambient screen
Ambient Text/Image Color: The color text and play/pause image on the ambient display
Ambient Progress Color: The color of the progress indicator on the ambient screen
Show Time: Show the current time on the ambient display
Show Date: Show the date on the ambient display
Media Notification: Remove the notification from the watchface when playback is paused
Disable Dynamic Text Color: Disables the text color change for the "Default" theme
Show Downloads Only: Only downloaded episodes will show podcast episode lists
Hide Paging Indicator: Hides the paging indicator
PODCASTS
Sort By: The order of podcasts
Hide Podcasts: Only show podcasts with new episodes
EPISODES
Number: The number of episodes to display
Sort By: Sort order of episodes
Hide Played: Do not show played episodes in the list
Left Swipe Action: The action that occurs when swiping left on an episode
Auto-Center: Display the episode playing when opening a playlist or an podcast's episode list
Mark Played: Mark an episode as finished when manually skipping
PLAYLISTS
Organize Playlists: Add, sort, rename, and delete playlists. Note: the 'New' playlist cannot be removed because it is only shown if it there are new episodes.
Hide Empty Playlists: Hide playlists with no episodes. "New" and "Local" are automatically hidden when they have no episodes/files
Remove Episodes: Automatically remove an episode from all playlists when it is completed or marked played
Custom Playlists Sort Order: The order of episodes in user created playlists. Manual sorting must be done on the phone
'Downloads' Sort Order: The order of episodes in the "Downloads" playlists. "New" and "Latest" playlists are set to order by date and "In Progress" is ordered by the saved position. These can't be changed.
UPDATES
Enable Updates: Enable/disables background updates for new episodes
Update Interval: The time between updates
Update While Charging: Only run background updates when the device is charging
Update on Wi-Fi: Only run background updates when the device is on Wi-Fi
Update on Startup: Check for new episodes whenever the app starts
High Bandwidth: Connect to an available Wi-Fi or cellular network when updating podcasts
Automatically Connect to Available Network: Do not show a dialog when a connection isn't available. The app will try to connect to an available Wi-Fi or cellular connection automatically
DOWNLOADS
Auto Delete: When to automatically delete downloaded episodes
Download Notification: Display a status notification when downloads complete
Auto-Download: Episodes assigned to a playlist will download automatically during the next background update
Network Auto-Connect: Do not show a dialog when a connection isn't available. The app will try to connect to an available Wi-Fi or cellular connection automatically
Missing Downloads: Any episodes with missing downloads will be automatically re-downloaded when the watch connect to the charger
Show Download Manager: Show the download manager when initiating downloads from the phone app
Open Bluetooth Settings: Open the Bluetooth settings when starting a download, then open them again when all downloads complete (if watch is not charging). This makes it easier to disable and enable Bluetooth for faster downloads.
Play Sound: Play a confirmation sound when all downloads complete.
PLAYBACK
Global Playback Speed: The playback speed for all podcast (can be overridden per podcast)
Skip Back: The number of seconds to skip back in an episode
Skip Forward: The number of seconds to skip forward in an episode
Auto-Start Playback: When selecting an episode start playback automatically
Auto-Start Downloads: If Auto Start Playback is enabled, only downloaded episodes will auto-start
Volume Level: If you change the volume while listening to a podcast, all episodes of that podcast will play at the volume. Also applies to individual podcasts sent from your phone.
Default Volume Level: This is the volume that will be set for any podcast that doesn't have a custom volume level. If you set the volume level to 8 for a podcast then play a podcast that doesn't have a volume level set, the default volume level will be used.
Alternate Controls: Switches 'skip forward' with 'fast forward' and 'skip back' with 'rewind'. Useful for customizing Bluetooth headset commands.
Rotating Side Button: The action when rotating the side button (Wear Casts must be open for this to work. Not all watches support this functionality)
Bottom Button Actions: If your watch has more than one hardware button you can customize the bottom button action (Wear Casts must be open for this to work. Not all watches support this functionality)
Files
Sort By: The order of files
Playback Speed: Set the playback speed for files (override global)
Save Position: Save the position of files (disable for music)
Volume Level: Set a custom volume level for every file. If this is enabled, any file that doesn't have a volume level set will use the "Default Volume Level" set under the Playback settings
Auto-Delete On Finish: Automatically remove files when they complete (WearOS 2 only)
Auto-Delete: Automatically remove files when skipping (WearOS 2 only)
Show Transfer Indicator: Display an icon in the list for files uploaded with the phone app. Only files uploaded with the phone app can also be played on the phone and deleted using the app (in WearOS 3.0 and above).
Ambient Display