After shutting down Google Play Music last year, Google was criticized for failing to have its replacement — YouTube Music — ready for Wear OS, Google's smartwatch platform. We only learned about Google's plans to launch YouTube Music on Wear OS this May, but sadly, the app requires the latest version of Wear OS — Wear OS 3.0. Only Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 series meets that criterion, leaving existing Wear OS 2.0 smartwatches without a YouTube Music app. Fortunately, one developer has stepped up to port YouTube Music to Wear OS 2.0.

A developer by the name of Alexandru Pop on Twitter has managed to port the smartphone version of YouTube Music to Wear OS. The smartphone version of the app doesn't scale properly to fit the screens of most smartwatches, so the developer had to tweak the app's UI to fit within the confines of a tiny smartwatch screen. The result is a UI that's still incredibly clunky and unoptimized, but it works.

If you can stomach the poorly optimized UI, there's another caveat you should be aware of: This port is based on YouTube Music Vanced, a modified version of the YTM app. This is necessary to bypass the restrictions of the original app, which prevents account sign-ins if the app has been tampered with. By sideloading YTM Vanced and its companion app — Vanced microG Settings — you're able to log into your Google account in the modified app. You might be wondering if it's safe to login to your Google account, and unfortunately, I can't verify if it's safe or that Google won't ban your account for violating their terms of service. All I can tell you is that it works, so if you're worried, I recommend using this modded app with a secondary Google account.

For step-by-step instructions on how to install this modified YouTube Music app on your Wear OS 2 smartwatch, visit Alexandru's forum thread on XDA.