Quick Start Guide

Welcome to AsteroidOS! This guide will help you set up and personalize your smartwatch after a successful installation. Follow these steps to get started and make the most of your device.

Initial Setup

After booting your watch for the first time, you’ll be guided through a quick setup:

1. Set your Language, Time, Date, and Timezone: Adjust these settings as prompted.
2. Intro Slideshow: A non-interactive slideshow will introduce you to the UI and swipe gestures. Once it’s done, you’ll land on the Watchface Homescreen with the stock watchface. Hint: You can skip the tutorial slideshow via long press on the arrow/next button

Now, let’s explore your watch!

Understanding the Interface

AsteroidOS uses swipe gestures to navigate. Here’s what each swipe does from the Watchface Homescreen:

Homescreen Swipe Gestures

• Swipe from Top: Opens the Quick Settings panel (work in progress, more shortcuts coming soon).
• Swipe from Left: Shows notifications synced from your paired phone.
• Swipe from Right: Displays events from the Agenda and Weather apps.
• Swipe from Bottom: Opens the configurable App Launcher.

In-App Swipe Gestures

When using an app, you can swipe from the left edge of the screen toward the right to go back — either to the previous page in the app, or to the launcher if you're already on the app's main screen.

This behavior is consistent across all apps and is a quick way to navigate without needing buttons. Think of it like the "back" gesture on Android phones.

Swipe from the top will close any app and return to the Homescreen.

Gestures are real gestures—you don’t need to complete them fully and can pause them. For example, swipe down from the top to close an app but stop halfway to peek at the Watchface Homescreen without leaving the app. Then reverse the swipe to go back to the app. This is super useful when choosing a watchface or wallpaper in Settings, letting you preview how they look on the Watchface Homescreen.

Syncing with Your Phone

AsteroidOS supports synchronization with your smartphone via several community-built apps for different platforms.

These tools enable features like notifications, music control, time sync and more.

Check out the full list of options and setup instructions here: Synchronization Clients Wiki Page

Accessing Settings

To personalize your watch, head to the Settings page:

• Open the App Launcher (swipe up from the Watchface Homescreen).
• Tap the gear icon to enter Settings.
• Alternatively, use the Quick Settings shortcut (coming soon).

Settings include subpages like Display, Nightstand, Wallpaper, Watchface, and more. Let’s tweak some key options next.

Battery Life

With a healthy battery, all supported watches typically achieve at least 48 hours of battery life running AsteroidOS.

Some models with secondary displays can reach 3 to 5 days. However, if you enable features like Tilt-to-Wake, expect runtime to drop — in most cases down to 30 hours or more, depending on usage.

As always, battery life varies by device, usage habits, and power-saving settings. But these two settings are most power hungry:

Tilt-to-Wake

• What it does: Wakes the screen when you tilt your wrist.
• Battery Impact: High – it often triggers accidentally.
• Recommendation: Turn it off unless you really need it.
• How to adjust: Go to Settings > Display > Toggle “Tilt-to-Wake” off.

Always-On Display (AoD)

• What it does: Keeps the screen on with a low-power watchface.
• Battery Impact:
• High on LCD screens – avoid using it.
• Moderate on OLED screens – safe to use.
• Disable on watches with a secondary display (e.g., hybrid watches) to use the secondary screen instead of the AoD watchface.
• How to adjust: Go to Settings > Display > Toggle “Always-On Display” on/off.

Connect Your Watch to the Internet

To unlock more features like updates and app installation, connect your computer to your watch via SSH or ADB by enabling either of them in the settings app -> USB.

Use a computer or phone with ADB (Android Debug Bridge from the Google Platform Tools):

adb shell

or an SSH client to connect to your watch via USB.

For SSH, follow the SSH guide.

When connected to the watch, establish an IP Connection by following the IP Connection guide.

With an IP connection established, you can:

Update AsteroidOS

• Keep your watch up-to-date with the latest features and fixes using:

  opkg update && opkg upgrade
  

• See the Updating AsteroidOS guide for instructions.

Install Apps

• Add community-provided apps via the command line.
• Check the Applications guide for details.
• Install apps using:

  opkg install name-of-the-app
  

Customize Watchfaces

• Install community watchfaces to match your style.
• Follow the Watchface Installation guide.

What's next

• Experiment with Settings to find what works best for you.
• Visit the FAQ pages if you’re curious about pre-install details or troubleshooting.

Hack, Tinker, Contribute

AsteroidOS is built by enthusiasts for enthusiasts — and you're encouraged to make it your own!

Whether you want to customize watchfaces, write your own apps in QML/Qt, explore via SSH, or even contribute code, everything is open and waiting for your ideas.

You can explore the source code, report issues, or get involved at: github.com/AsteroidOS

Join the Community Chat

Got questions, want to share progress, or just hang out with fellow AsteroidOS users and developers?

Join us on Matrix at #Asteroid:matrix.org — we’re a friendly bunch and always happy to help or chat about smartwatch hacking!

Enjoy your AsteroidOS smartwatch!