To use a smartwatch as a standalone device, you'll need to charge it up before you leave the house. It's a good idea to charge it overnight, but if you're desperate for a quick top-up, plug it in for 30 minutes or so. Also, you need to have the below apps on your smartwatch.

Install WhatsApp:

You can use a smartwatch as a standalone device, without your smartphone. But you'll need to install WhatsApp on the watch.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging services in the world, with more than 1 billion users. It's also available on both Android Wear and Tizen smartwatches, so you can stay in touch with your friends and family even when your phone isn't within reach.

Here's how to set up WhatsApp on your Android Wear or Tizen watch:

1) Open the Google Play Store app on your Android Wear or Tizen wearable and search for "WhatsApp." The app should appear in the results list, but if it doesn't, try downloading it from another platform like Samsung Galaxy Apps or LG SmartWorld instead.

2) After installing WhatsApp on your wearable device, launch it from your home screen by tapping its icon. Then follow the onscreen instructions to sign into your account using Facebook or an existing phone number and verify that you're over 13 years old (or 18 years old if you live in Europe).

3) To send messages via WhatsApp from your smartwatch, tap the messaging icon at the bottom of the screen and select "New Message."

Get the Google app:

Android smartwatches are a great way to stay connected without having to pull out your phone. They can also make it easy to keep tabs on your fitness activity and find other useful apps.

While most Android Wear watches come with the Google Play Store preloaded, not all of them do. If your watch doesn't have this feature, you can still get it on your device by downloading the Google app from the Play store.

Here's how:

1. Open the Play store app on your watch and tap the search bar at the top of the screen.

2. Type "Google" in the search bar, then tap Search or enter it in manually if you prefer (it should be right there).

3. Select Google from the list of results that appear—it's likely near the top—then tap Install when prompted.

Listen to Spotify:

The Apple Watch is not a standalone device. It needs to be paired with an iPhone to work at all.

But some smartwatches, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, can work independently of your phone. They're still limited in what they can do, but they have some cool features that you might want to check out if you're not interested in buying an Apple Watch (or an Android Wear device).

The Spotify app on Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active lets you stream music from your watch. You don't need to have your phone nearby for this to work. There are other music apps available for the Galaxy Watch Active too, including Pandora, Google Play Music and Tidal.

Save music offline:

Smartwatches are great for keeping track of your fitness goals and even making payments, but they're not as useful when you're away from your phone. If you'd like to use your smartwatch as a standalone device, here's how to go about it.

The first thing you need to do is save some music on your watch. You can do this by transferring the files from your computer or laptop via USB cable. Once that's done, open up the Music app on your watch and tap "Add." Then select the music files you want to transfer over and hit "Add" again.

Once all of your songs have been loaded onto the watch, wait until they've finished transferring before disconnecting from the computer/laptop — otherwise, you could lose them (and all hope of listening to music on your watch).

Leave your phone at home:

You can leave your phone at home when you go out with a smartwatch. You can even use it as a standalone device, without connecting to your phone.

Some smartwatch apps are stand-alone apps. These include step counting and sleep tracking apps, but also messaging apps, such as iMessage and WhatsApp.

Once you download and install the app on your watch, it will be available for use even if you don't have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

To use a stand-alone app:

1) Open the app on your watch to get started.

2) If there's data that needs to be synced with the cloud (such as messages), tap "sync" in the top right corner of the screen and wait for it to complete before continuing.

3) You can now start using your app without having to pair it with your iPhone again!

So, when it comes to using your smartwatch as a standalone device, you may want to consider a few trade-offs. The size of the display, the number of built-in functions and sensors (and their accuracy), and the price are variables that might sway you one way or another.