Paid apps cannot be installed on Android Wear devices due to Play Store encryption bug

As more and more Android Wear devices start to trickle out to the public, a somewhat major bug has been discovered by the folks at Android Police. According to users of the G Watch and Gear Live, there is currently no way to install paid apps onto the devices. Normally, Android Wear apps are installed to the watch from the user’s phone, via Bluetooth. Apps that cost money, however, are not installing on Android Wear devices.

According to the report, the issue with paid apps and Android Wear lies with Google’s app encryption measures. This is the company’s way of preventing paid apps from being easily pirated. Android Wear devices, for whatever odd reason, are not able to locate apps in encrypted packages. This essentially prevents all paid apps from being used on Android Wear devices, which is obviously not good for developers.

Presumably, with both the G Watch and Gear Live now shipping out to customers, Google is hard at work fixing this issue, as it’s a pretty big one. There are some workarounds for developers, including the possibility of making their app free and offering in-app purchases, but Google needs to get this fixed as quickly as possible.