If you have a nice watch face on your Wear OS smartwatch and want to show off the way it looks, or if you received an important notification that you want to save for later, a screenshot is the best way to do it. While taking a screenshot on an Android phone or a Samsung Galaxy phone is pretty straightforward, you may not know how to take a screenshot on Wear OS. We have put together a simple guide to help you take screenshots on your Wear OS smartwatch.

How to take a screenshot on Wear OS 3

There's no standardized way of taking a screenshot on Wear OS 3 smartwatches. While Samsung makes it fairly easy to take a screenshot on its Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy 5 watches, the process is a bit convoluted on the Google Pixel Watch.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 / 5 series

  1. Unlock you Galaxy Watch
  2. Navigate to the screen you want take a screenshot of
  3. Click both buttons on the left simultaneously. You'll see a brief animation on the watch indicating a screenshot was taken.

The Galaxy Watch will automatically send the screenshot to your connected phone along with a notification. You can also view the screenshot on the watch itself by navigating to the app drawer and opening the Gallery app.

A render of the Galaxy Watch 5 smartwatch
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5

We recommend the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 for anybody looking for a fitness-focused smartwatch because it offers a good set of features for the price. It's durable, has plenty of features, and is available in multiple sizes.

Google Pixel Watch

To take a screenshot on the Pixel Watch, you have to use your phone and enable developer options. To do this, on your smartphone, go to Settings > About Phone and tap Build number several times in quick succession. You'll see a toast message on the screen indicating that developer options are enabled.

  1. On your Pixel Watch, go to the screen you want to take a screenshot of.
  2. Now, open the Watch app on your phone.
  3. Tap the three-dot menu located in the top-right corner.
  4. From the list, tap Take screen shot on your watch.
  5. Check the notification on your phone and click on it to send or save the screenshot.
A render of the Google Pixel Watch in black.
Google Pixel Watch

The Google Pixel Watch is one of the most stylish and sleekest Android watches around. And since it's made by Google, it's about as official an Android watch as you're going to get. 

How to take a screenshot on Wear OS 2

The method to take screenshots on Wear OS is fairly simple, except you can't do it from the watch directly. You'll also need the smartphone to which your Wear OS smartwatch is paired to do this. Once you have both the watch and the phone, and they're connected to each other, here's what you need to do :

  1. Head over to the screen you wish to take a screenshot of on your smartwatch.
  2. Next, open the Wear OS app on your smartphone. Note that the smartwatch should be connected to your phone via Bluetooth and should be in Bluetooth range for this to work.
  3. In the Wear OS app, you should see the name of your watch followed by a Connected via Bluetooth message. This means you're good to go.
    Wear OS app UI
  4. Now, you'll see a three-dot menu in the top-left corner. Tap on it. Select the Take Screenshot of Watch option.
    Wear OS Screenshot option
  5. Once you select the option, you'll get a notification on your smartphone saying Ready to Send Watch Screenshot. Tap on the notification and you'll see the option to either edit it, share it, or upload it wherever you want.
Screenshot notification on Wear OS

The process for capturing a screenshot on a Wear OS watch can be somewhat confusing, but we hope our guide will help you navigate the process and capture your screenshots with ease. It would also be helpful if Google added a built-in method (similar to Galaxy Watch) for capturing screenshots directly from the smartwatch without the need for a phone.