Gravl has a native Wear OS app, so you can log sets, run rest timers and check what's next straight from your wrist. Wear OS is the simplest of the three platforms to set up - it pairs with your phone on its own.
Using a different watch? See Gravl on Apple Watch or Gravl on Garmin.
Before you start
What you need:
- An Android phone on Android 8.0 or later with the Gravl app installed.
- A watch on Wear OS 5 or later, paired to that phone.
- Bluetooth on and the watch connected to the phone.
How to install the watch app: open the Google Play store on the watch, search for Gravl and install it. Nothing to configure afterwards - it recognises the phone app on its own.
Permissions to allow: the first time you open Gravl on the watch, allow heart rate / body sensors access. Without it the workout still runs, but you get no heart rate or calorie tracking.
The Wear OS app is a companion, not a standalone one: it needs the Gravl app on your phone to work.
Connect your watch for the first time
- Install Gravl from Google Play on the watch.
- Make sure Gravl is installed and you're signed in on the phone.
- Open Gravl on the watch and accept the heart rate permission prompt.
There's no pairing screen and no toggle to flip in the phone app - if both apps are installed on a phone and watch that are already paired to each other, they'll find each other.
How to know it worked: start a workout on the phone. The watch should show your current exercise and set within a few seconds.
Start a workout
Start the workout on your phone. The watch picks it up and switches into the session automatically - it also starts tracking heart rate and calories at that point.
If you opened the watch app first and it's sitting on the idle screen, that's fine: start on the phone and the watch will catch up. Don't start a second workout on the watch.
During the workout
On your wrist you can:
- See the current exercise, your set, target reps and weight.
- Log a set and edit reps or weight before you confirm it.
- Run the rest timer, with a buzz on your wrist when time's up.
- Rate your exertion after an exercise.
- Handle supersets, dropsets and timed exercises.
- Watch heart rate and calories live.
- Get a PR celebration on the wrist when you set a new record.
Everything syncs live with the phone in both directions, pauses included.
Tiles. Add the Gravl tiles to your watch face carousel and you can glance at your Strength Score and your current week without opening the app. Long-press the watch face, tap to add a tile, and pick Gravl.
Finishing the workout
Finish from either device - the phone saves the session. Finishing on the phone is the safer habit: that's where the summary, your PRs and any last edits are.
The watch sends its final heart-rate samples to the phone as the workout ends, so give the two a couple of seconds together before you walk away from your phone.
Syncing with Health Connect
Gravl writes your finished sessions to Health Connect, including active energy and the heart rate recorded by the watch, once you've connected it in Profile - Connected Apps. From there Health Connect passes the data on to whatever other apps you've allowed.
Strava and external workout imports are set up on the same screen - see Connected Apps.
Troubleshooting
The watch won't connect, or the workout never reaches the wrist. For Wear OS the fix is usually short:
- Make sure both apps are up to date - the one on the phone and the one on the watch.
- Uninstall and reinstall both apps.
That clears the large majority of Wear OS pairing problems. If it's still not right afterwards, restart both devices and try once more.
The watch stays on the idle screen after you start on the phone. Check that Bluetooth is on and the watch is connected to the phone, then reopen the Gravl app on the watch. Don't start a second workout there.
Sets, weights or exercises don't match between watch and phone. The phone is the source of truth - it's what gets saved. Correct anything wrong on the phone, then reopen the watch app to resync.
No heart rate or calories. Grant Gravl the heart rate / body sensors permission on the watch (watch Settings - Apps - Gravl - Permissions), and make sure the watch sits snug on your wrist.
Gravl Tip:
Keep your phone within Bluetooth range during the session. The watch is the remote; the phone is what owns and saves the workout.
Still not working?
Send us the details below and we'll look into it:
- Phone model and Android version
- Watch model and Wear OS version
- Gravl version on the phone and on the watch
- Other devices connected to the phone
- A short recording showing the issue
You can reach us from Support. A recording is genuinely the fastest way for us to see what's happening and report it.