Installation helper apps are a tool we use to make finding and using our watch faces easier for our customers. The helper apps work by sending a direct Play Store link from the helper app to your watch, expediting what can be a tedious installation process. The only purpose of the helper apps is to assist you with the initial installation of a watch face. After the watch face has been installed on your watch, the helper app can safely be uninstalled from your phone or tablet.
Installation helper apps are what we've decided to call the applications we bundle with our Wear OS watch faces. They consist of a single screen including our logo, some concise text describing the application's purpose, and three action buttons:
If everything is perfectly configured and linked, you won't need our helper apps at all. When you browse to one of our watch faces you'll be able to purchase and install it on your watch without any trouble. However, we're aware that this ideal experience is not the experience everyone has.
Based partly on your Google account and Android device linking configuration, as well as what device you are currently using to browse the Play Store, you may or may not be able to see and install our watch faces. Sometimes you may find our watch faces but a warning message is displayed "This device isn't compatible with this app." and the install option is unavailable.
This issue seems to predominantly occur in the Android application version of the Google Play Store on phones and tablets. To get around this problem, you can use a web browser on a computer or even on your tablet or phone to browse the Play Store and install the watch faces to your watch from there. You can also browse to the watch face you want by using the Play Store app on your watch.
Sometimes, even when things do appear to be linked together correctly, the installation process is not always immediate. You may see see an "Install" button on the Play Store to install the watch face directly to your device, but when you press it, instead of an immediate installation you may get a message that the watch face is "scheduled to be installed" at a later date. That date is not indicated and there is no progress bar on either device.
Either of these options can be inconvenient enough to make it feel like it is not worth your effort. We're not going to hide it, we want your business! So, to make the installation process as easy and as immediate as possible for you, we include the helper apps with our watch faces.
We mentioned earlier that you may not be able to see our watch faces at all in the Play Store or you may see an "incompatible" warning message when you are using the Play Store app on your phone. This is mainly caused by the Play Store filtering your results to the device type you are using. If you are browsing using a phone, then applications meant for a desktop or a watch are likely to be filtered out of your results.
While Google's Play Store filtering does make sense, showing you watch faces or watch apps when using a watch, phone or tablet apps when using a phone, and desktop apps when using a desktop, it can be inconvenient when your phone, watch, and your Google account are not fully connected and linked the way they seem to want them to be.
Our bundled helper applications are built for phones or tablets and in the program code, they use the same "back end name" as the watch face they are paired with. This effectively makes the watch face listing appear to be compatible with watches and tablets. With the helper app bundled into the watch face, when you install the watch face on your phone or tablet, the helper app is actually what is installed, not the watch face. When you open the helper app, and press the "Install" button, the helper app tries to send a direct Play Store link to your connected watch so all you have to do is press the install button on the watch screen. When you install the watch face from your watch, only the watch face is installed.
Since the only function of the helper app is to send that direct Play Store link to your watch, you can safely uninstall the helper app from your phone or tablet once you have installed the watch face on your watch.
Yes. In fact, we recommend it! There is no reason to leave a helper app installed and cluttering up your phone or tablet once you have the watch face installed on your watch.
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