Issue
When you try connecting your Samsung Gear S2, Gear S3 or Gear Sport smartwatch to
a smartphone that has less than 1.5GB of RAM for the first time, you are in for a nasty surprise; although you can find and install Galaxy Wearable application from Google Play store onto your device, it will be unable to successfully connect your smartphone and the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport.
If you try to connect Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport to your device manually, that is directly from phone’s bluetooth settings, the phone is able to find Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport and even initiates the pairing process together with the “Confirm passkey xxxxxx to pair with Gear S2.” or “Confirm passkey xxxxxx to pair with Gear S3.” message. After you confirm the bluetooth pairing request, a “setting up…” text is displayed on your Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport watch but the process doesn’t succeed. The connecting process between the smartphone and Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport needs to be performed from within the Galaxy Wearable app in order to be successfully completed.
The reason why Galaxy Wearable app is unable to find and pair the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport with devices that have less than 1.5GB of RAM is the Galaxy Wearable app itself; the developers at Samsung enforced a minimum RAM requirement check into the app. When Galaxy Wearable app is run on the devices that have less than 1.5GB of RAM, it is only able to find and pair with Samsung accessories such as Gear Triathlon S/M, Gear IconX R/L and Gear Circle but not the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport.
I suspect the reason for their decision is they have encountered some performance issues on some of less capable smartphones during the testing phase and decided to drop support for the mentioned devices altogether to prevent potential complaints from customers.
Solution
I was able to disable the minimum RAM requirement check from the Galaxy Wearable app and thus make it work on whole range of Android smartphones that have less than 1.5GB of RAM. This was accomplished by decompiling the Galaxy Wearable apk, modifying the rules.xml file (adding hostMinMemory=”0″ syntax), recompiling and re-signing it.
Beside the Galaxy Wearable app, Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport also requires two additional apps to be installed on the smartphone in order to connect and function as intended; Samsung Accessory Service and Gear S plugin. These apps also had to be re-signed, since they wouldn’t install successfully if downloaded directly from Google Play Store, when there is a re-signed Galaxy Wearable app installed on the system.
I would like to point out that the integrity of the Galaxy Wearable app wasn’t compromised in any way since I didn’t do any other changes, beside disabling the minimum RAM requirement check before it initiates the pairing process.
Modified app works the same as the one downloaded from the Google Play store.
Compatible devices
The modified Galaxy Wearable app should work on a whole range of Android smartphones (Android 4.4 Kitkat, 5.x Lollipop, 6.x Marshmallow, 7.x Nougat). Please note that synchronization with Samsung Health / S-Health app will not work with modified Galaxy Wearable app (click here for more information). For Samsung phones ROOT is required.
Below is the list of devices that are known to be working with the modified Galaxy Wearable app and Samsung Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport smartwatch:
- ALCATEL Pixi Unite A466BG (Android 6.0, 1GB of RAM)
- LG G2 mini (Android 4.4.2, 1GB RAM)
- LG G3 (Android 6.0, 2GB / 3GB RAM)
- LG G4 Stylus H542 (Android 5.1, 1GB RAM)
- LG Ultimate 2 L41C (Android 4.4, 1GB RAM)
- LG Zone X180G (Android 5.1, 1GB RAM)
- HTC One Mini (Android 4.4.2, 1GB RAM)
- HTC One Mini 2 (Android 4.4.2, 1GB RAM)
- HTC Desire 626G+ dual sim (Android 4.4.2, 1GB RAM)
- Motorola Moto G (1st Generation) (Android 4.4.4, 1GB RAM)
- Motorola Moto G3 (Android 5.1.1/6.0, version with 1GB of RAM)
- Motorola Moto g5 Plus (Android 7.0, 2GB of RAM)
- Motorola Moto E (Android 5.1, 1GB of RAM)
- Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE XT897 (Lineage OS Marshmallow, 1GB of RAM)
- BQ Aquaris A4.5 (Android 6.0, 1GB of RAM)
- Sonim XP7 (Android 4.4.2, 1GB RAM)
- Sony Xperia M2 (Android 5.1, 1GB RAM)
*The list will expand as more compatible devices are reported by users.
*Synchronization with Samsung Health / S-Health app doesn’t work
Workout and lifestyle data from the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport doesn’t show in Samsung Health app on the smartphone. Reason for this is that Samsung Health app checks signature of Gear S Plugin and refuses to sync or exchange data with it, because it wasn’t signed by Samsung. On non-rooted phones only workaround is to use other exercise tracking apps such as Endomondo, MapMyRun or Under Armour Record for Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport. Mentioned apps are currently only able to transfer limited exercise data from Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport to Samsung Health app, such as workout start/stop time, distance, sport type and calories.
On rooted phones there is a possibility to install an un-modified Galaxy Wearable, Gear S Plugin, Samsung Accessory Service and Samsung Health from Play Store (Or Galaxy apps store on Samsung phones), starting the Galaxy Wearable app, rebooting the phone and then going to \data\data\com.samsung.android.app.watchmanager\files\ directory with File manager that has root access (in ES File Explorer go to Settings, Tools and turn on “Root Explorer”) and manually editing (adding hostMinMemory=”0″ syntax) rules.xml file (Open it with Es Notes Editor). By using original apps signed by Samsung, sync with Samsung Health works as intended. Do not forget to turn off Auto update for Galaxy Wearable app afterwards, otherwise it will overwrite rules.xml file with an original version on every app update.
Connecting to Samsung Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport
Please follow the steps below carefully and in the exact order to successfully connect the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport to your smartphone. Do not attempt to skip any step.
1. Remove existing Samsung apps
If you have installed Galaxy Wearable app from Google Play Store you will need to remove it in order to install modified Galaxy Wearable app. Go to Settings -> Application Manager / Apps -> All and search for Galaxy Wearable, Gear S Plugin and Samsung Accessory Service. If any of the mentioned apps is found, it needs to be removed / uninstalled. Restart your smartphone after the uninstall.
2. Unpair Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport
Go to Settings -> Bluetooth and look under the Paired Devices. If Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport is listed under the Paired Devices, you will need to un-pair it.
3. Allow installation of apps from unknown sources
Go to Settings -> Security and make sure that there is a check-mark next to “Unknown sources”. This will allow installation of modified Galaxy Wearable app.
4. Download the modified Galaxy Wearable app
Click on the link below to download the modified Galaxy Wearable app, re-signed Gear S Plugin and re-signed Samsung Accessory Service. All three apps are packed in a compressed .zip package. Download the .zip file to your computer, unzip or extract it and then transfer apps (.apk files) to your smartphone. In case you don’t have access to a computer, you can download .zip file directly from the browser on your smartphone and then use File manager to extract apps.
- Galaxy Wearable+Gear S Plugin+Accessory Service .zip file (Updated: 9 Dec 2019 | Downloaded 3036 times)
*File is hosted on Dropbox. If link doesn’t work, please contact me at info@getgui.com
*These apps will only work with Samsung Gear S2 / S3 / Sport. If you require apps for Samsung Gear Fit2 and Gear Fit2 Pro click here.
5. Install apps to your smartphone
Use a File manager app to browse for the transferred apps (if you downloaded .zip file directly from smartphone, it should reside in the “Download” folder in internal memory or SD card). Tap on each of the three apps to install it. Accept all required permissions during installation.
6. Preparing Samsung Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport for connection
Restart your smartphone and make sure Bluetooth is turned on before attempting the connection. Make sure your Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport is turned on and in “discovery mode”, the text “Install Galaxy Wearable on your phone.” should be displayed, as seen on the picture below. If something else is displayed on screen of your Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport, you will need to reset it, by pressing “Home button”, tapping on the “Settings” icon -> Gear info -> Reset Gear. Or in case when Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport was connected to another smartphone, by pressing “Home button”, tapping on the “Settings” icon -> Connect to new phone.
7. Connecting Samsung Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport using modified Galaxy Wearable app
Open the installed Galaxy Wearable app, tap on the “Connect to Gear” button and wait a bit for the phone to find the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport. If it doesn’t find it the first time, repeat the step. After the Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport is found, tap on the “Gear S2” / “Gear S3 / Gear Sport” text, wait for the Bluetooth pairing request and confirm the pair. Also make sure that you allow or confirm any further permission requests. If all went well, your Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport should now be successfully connected to your smartphone.
8. Provide feedback to help the community
If you would like to help other fellow Gear S2 / Gear S3 / Gear Sport owners who are unable to connect it to their smartphone, please provide some feedback (model of your smartphone, version of Android, possible issues) in the comments below or via email to info@getgui.com. If the modified Galaxy Wearable app works on your smartphone, it will be added to the list of compatible devices, otherwise we will try to find a solution together.
If you have found this blog post useful and would like to buy me a cup of coffee, please click here :)
Moto E (tracfone cheapie but still nice phone) with 1GB RAM worked just fine … so far.
Thanks for this.
You are welcome, thank you for your feedback.
Hi I downloaded the zip file and I could only be able to download one file the gear s plug in the other files do not download please help me
Hello,
if you have downloaded the .zip file and extracted it, all three .apk files should be in it.
If you are having problems downloading this file via your mobile phone, you should download the .zip file on your computer, extract the .apk files and transfer them to your phones memory card via USB cable.
I’m very sorry but I’m very poor and do not have a computer
Please help me you need to do something friend your the only one who can
Hi,
Thank You for Your work, but after instalation, when I try open app, I get an information that my system has been changed by unauthorized way and application won’t be opened. My phone is samsung galaxy s3 mini, and stock is not available in version 4.4 of android. I flashed it with custom rom 4.4.4. Do you know how to bypass it? Maybe there is some option that checks flash counter or phone code with available official OS version? I dunno…
I really, would like to help You add another compatible phone to the list 😉
Thank you!
Cheers
Hello,
there is an issue when using modified apps from my blog on Samsung phones because the apps are not signed by Samsung.
On rooted phones you can get around this issue by modifying build.prop file like described below:
Try editing your build.prop file with ES File Explorer or similar program – search for build.prop file with ES File Explorer and when you find it, tap on it and select to open it with ES Note Editor. You then need to replace all entries in the build.prop that say samsung, to htc for example. Entries are case-sensitive. After you modify the file, try exiting the ES Note Editor and choose to save changes in the save changes dialog window. Open the file again and check if the changes are there, if they aren’t, it is because ES File Explorer doesn’t have root privileges – make sure to put a check mark beside the “root privilege” in the settings of ES File Explorer. Please note that changing the build.prop file could lead to some issues – mainly that you couldn’t find some Samsung specific apps on Play Store because your phone is identified as HTC. Reboot phone after making the changes to build.prop file. Please report back the results.
Thank you!
That worked, and app opened succesfully. 🙂
Thanks one more time.
I’m glad it works:)
Are you gonna help me or what
I suggest you search for RAR on Playstore, download the .zip file again from the blog and when it is downloaded, unzip it with the RAR app you have installed from Playstore.
Hi. my phone is galaxy grand 2. I did everything you said but it’s not working
Hi,
modified apps don’t work on Samsung phones, the only way to make it work is to root the phone and modify the build.prop file or install original apps from Galaxy Store and then manually editing the rules.xml file directly on the phone. This also requires root. Both procedures are described in the blog post.
i rooted and changed built.prop.. didn’t help
Did not work either I have a Lenovo a6000 phone 900mb ram can’t you do something
Hi. my phone is galaxy grand 2. I did everything you said but it’s not connecting to my gear s2.. i changed in build prop all samsungs to htc.. but it says that the operating system is modified
Hello,
Try changing the values in the build.prop, then restarting the phone and when you open the build.prop file again, the changes should be there. If they are not it means the file was not properly saved or there is an issue with root.
thank you for responding. i’ll try
Come on do something
THANK YOU!! Work fine in a BQ AQUARIS A4.5 – Android 6.0 – 1GB RAM
You are welcome.
Thank you for the feedback, your phone will be added to the list.
You take to long to reply
Wont work with my asus a602 and my gear 2neo
These apps are not designed to work with Gear 2 Neo, they are for Gear S2 and Gear S3.
Your phone has 2 GB of RAM so it should work with original, un-modified apps from Play Store.
If it doesn’t work, try XDA developers forum, maybe someone is experiencing the same issues.
I have a moto e and the samsung gear properly installed but when i try to open the gear s2 plugin app i cant, can anyone help
Hello Sam,
do you get any error messages?
Thank you!
I cannot praise Simon enough. I tried Samsung for help, but they were no use. Simon however enabled me to use my Motorola Moto G3 with my new Samsung Gear S3 watch perfectly. He responded immediately to my question and his help was invaluable.
Andrew thank you for this comment, I’m really glad we had sorted out the installation issue.
My phone is not rooted still it shows my system has been changed by unauthorized way an application won’t be opened. I’m using Galaxy Grand Prime.
Hello Ayush,
for Samsung phones the build.prop file needs to be adjusted as per instructions in the blog, to be able to do this, the phone needs to be rooted.
I can’t install the app with the link given above. When i tried to open the downloaded one. It says this file format is not supported
Please try to download the file again and open it on Windows with WinRar or WinZip.
Hello, in my case i get an alert that says “The OS has been modified with an unauthorised way and is not compatible with the app samsung gear. Please check the OS and try later”
Any suggestions??
Hello,
for Samsung phones the build.prop file needs to be modified as per instructions in the blog post.
To be able to do this, the phone needs to be rooted.
I have a Samsung J1 Mini (1gb RAM), rooted. I’ve edited the build.prop as directed to htc and have confirmed the changes remained on reboot, and installed the modified apks. Sadly I still cannot see my gear s in the Samsung gear app; is there anything I can do to make it work? Thanks!
Hello Nathan,
the modified apks from the blog post are meant for Gear S2 and S3, they will not work with Gear S.
I have made another modification to the Samsung Gear app in hope to enable support for Gear S.
You can try the modified apks by downloading them from the link below. Remember to remove the previous versions of Samsung Gear, Gear Plugin and Samsung Accessory Service before installing.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nvnjcirkxgzm7qo/Samsung-Gear-S-Test-GetGui.zip?dl=1
Please report back.
Hey mate,
Cheers for putting this together so quickly, I appreciate it. Starts off promisingly; gear s appears but when I click to connect I get a pop up saying “Tap OK to install com.samsung.android.gear2smodule to enable the data transfer between your Gear and your phone.” When I click OK I get sent to the play store but get an Item not found error. I uninstalled all 3 apps and installed the modified ones you posted as directed. And again, thanks heaps for your help!
Hello Nathan,
thank you for your feedback.
It seems I have made a mistake and accidentally packaged com.samsung.android.gear2plugin instead of the required com.samsung.android.gear2smodule, since they have the same version number – 2.2.02.16033141.
Please uninstall all previous versions and install apps from the zip package below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9gefmqg34zu7qac/Test2-Samsung-Gear-S-GetGui.zip?dl=1
I’m looking forward to your feedback.
Hello again,
The fix you’ve uploaded isn’t working; this time the Gear app crashes after I select my watch (where I previously got the popup).
Hello,
the only thing I can think off now, is that Gear app requires both mentioned apks (com.samsung.android.gear2plugin and com.samsung.android.gear2smodule) in order to function.
It is a bit hard to develop a solution, since I don’t have the Gear S watch and I’m testing modifications only in an Android emulator…which means I can only test the installation process.
Try to download the .zip package with all four apks, from the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/99fxnu8ba782c30/Test3-Samsung-Gear-S-GetGui.zip?dl=1
If this will not work for you, the only other way I can think off is to download un-modified Samsung Gear app from the PlayStore and manually modify the rules.xml file afterwards (instructions are in the blog post). This procedure doesn’t require the Gear apps’ signature to be modified, which means the Gear app should be able to download the required packages from the Play Store. At least in theory that is.
Hello,
I’ve installed all 4 APKs, and now I get to the Connecting to Gear… page; but it stays on that page indefinitely. I’m going to try modifying the rules.xml; but I can’t download the Samsung Gear app in the Play Store. Would the process work if I used an unmodified APK downloaded from another website, provided they haven’t changed the signature? Or would I have to edit the build.prop again, but to a model of phone that’s listed as compatible with the Samsung Gear app?
I really appreciate everything you’re doing to help- you’ve gone above and beyond what I expected!
Hello,
I’ve installed all 4 APKs, and now I get to the Connecting to Gear… page; but it stays on that page indefinitely. I’m going to try modifying the rules.xml; but I can’t download the Samsung Gear app in the Play Store. Would the process work if I used an unmodified APK downloaded from another website?
From what I can gather, all I have to do is add the line hostMinMemory=”0″, correct? Would I need to change anything to make it work on the Gear S (as the post is for the s2 and s3) or is that all I need to do?
I really appreciate everything you’re doing to help- you’ve gone above and beyond what I expected!
Hello,
it would be best if you could modify the build.prop file to match one of the phone models that are on the Gear S supported list –
change all htc entries back to samsung and also try one of these: ro.product.model = GT-I9500 or ro.product.model = GT-I9300.
After rebooting your phone, you should be able to download the Gear app from the Galaxy Apps store (Not the Playstore), but be sure to remove all the modified or Gear related apps in advance.
Then you have to add the hostMinMemory=”0″ to the rules.xml, same as on the picture below.
Then the Gear app should be able to download the required apps automatically, during the connecting process.
But please make sure to do a complete phone backup before attempting any modifications to the build.prop file. If something goes wrong, your phone could be stuck in a bootloop. In that case phone can be rescued by flashing the official firmware, but all the user data on the phone could be lost.
Thank you so much! That did it, it’s working great!
For anyone reading this in the future who has a Gear S and the Samsung J1 Mini (might work for other Samsungs too), this is the process:
Step 1. Root your phone if it isn’t already, and do a complete phone backup
2. Edit the build.prop line “ro.product.model” to ro.product.model = GT-I9500 and reboot
2.a. If you get stuck in a bootloop (I didn’t, but it’s possible) flash the official firmware onto the phone (there’s tutorials online as to how to do that)
3. Download the Samsung Gear app from the Galaxy Apps Store (NOT the Play Store)
4. Run it once, but close it without clicking anything (this generates the files needed in step 5
5. Go to \data\data\com.samsung.android.app.watchmanager\files\ and edit the rules.xml as it says in the above reply from Simon
6. Open the Samsung Gear app, follow the instructions onscreen!
Hello Nathan,
you are welcome, I’m really glad that we have solved this issue.
And thank you for posting the detailed instructions, they will certainly come handy for other users who are facing similar problem.
Hello Nathan, I followed your conversation with Simon on getting Gear S to pair with Samsung J1. I have a Redmi Y2 that I am trying to pair with Gear S, but haven’t succeeded yet. The phone is not rooted, and it is my father’s. I am afraid if I will brick it. Any way to get it to pair without having to root the phone?
Appreciate your help.
Hi Simon, if you can throw some light that will be great as well. I wanted to give a try with the files for Gear S that you had given for Nathan, but unfortunately they are not available anymore.
Hello Yuvaraj,
in Nathans’ case additional steps were required because he was using a Samsung phone.
For other brands of phones the modified apks should work out of the box, but for the Samsung Gear S a gear2plugin is required.
I have re-signed the gear2plugin (from apkmirror.com, latest version is from 1. Jul 2016) to work with the modified Galaxy Wearable and Samsung Accessory service.
You can download the package from the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn89cww1ltjphvv/Samsung-Gear-S-GetGui-18Dec2019.zip?dl=1
Please let me know if this works for you.
Hi
Do you know if the gear s2 and s3 work with a Sony Xperia E4
Android version 4.4.4 and 1GB of RAM
I also can’t access the link from an iPad it just says untitled and loads forever and I’m not sure if it is the same thing with my phone