We reported last month that Samsung Australia responded to someone at Facebook about the Gear S2 and Gear S3 Spotify app being made available in December. At that time, I gave a guesstimate of somewhere between December 15th and 22nd as the anticipated app's arrival. Well, it appears as though that was right. Within the past week, Samsung has delivered on the Gear S3/Gear S2 Spotify app, making your favorite music streaming service available from the wrist.
The new Spotify app for the Gear S3 and Gear S2 lets you use the smartwatch's rotating bezel to skip through songs. You can search through your entire music playlist on the Gear S3. There are two modes, Remote and Stream, whereby Remote mode helps you access functions on your Android smartphone, whereas the Stream mode lets you stream the music right on the wrist by way of the device speaker. Only those with a Gear S2 3G or a Gear S3 with cellular connectivity can access the Spotify music streaming by way of the built-in speaker on these devices. Bluetooth-connected only or non-3G Gear smartwatches can only experience Spotify by connecting a pair of Bluetooth headphones to their Gear S3 or Gear S2.
While the Spotify app for the Gear S3 and Gear S2 has finally come, there is one drawback: you won't be able to download music for offline playback. Apparently, users will have to keep their smartphone connected to their smartwatch and download their music onto their smartphone to get an offline experience. We presume that the Spotify app could be available for Gear S3 users that own iPhones (due to the company's Gear S2 iOS beta program), too, though we have no confirmation of this. 9to5google says that the new Spotify app can be accessed regardless of the phone you own, so there's that.
You can find the new Spotify Gear S3/Gear S2 app at Samsung's own Galaxy Apps Store available on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and by way of the Gear Manager app. Try it out and let us know how you're liking it so far. Also, if you have an iPhone with a Gear S2 or Gear S3, let us know your experience with downloading and using the new Spotify app.