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Final Android Wear 2.0 developer preview now available with iOS support

With Android Wear 2.0 nearing its rumored February 9th launch, Google has just released the fifth and final developer preview of the wearable OS. Besides bug fixes and enhancements, iOS support is the biggest feature, with developers also able to submit Wear 2.0 apps to the Play Store.

In line with Android, Wear 2.0 devices paired with iPhones will have support for third-party apps. Developers have to first note that their app doesn’t require an Android device to run before it will show up in the on-device Play Store. Standalone apps on Apple’s OS will have to deal with lower network bandwidth in order to improve battery life.

Google has also provided a number of guidelines about accessing the network on iOS, including Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Other features this release include support for OAuth and RemoteIntent.

This final developer preview also updates Wearable Support Library and thus allows developers to begin uploading final Wear 2.0 apps to the Play Store.

This update also features a number of other enhancements and bug fixes, with NFC Host Card Emulation allowing for Android Pay on supported watches:

  • Navigation Drawer: Flip a flag to toggle to the single-page, icon-only action drawer, which provides faster, more streamlined navigation to different views in your app.
  • NFC HCE support: NFC Host Card Emulation FEATURE_NFC_HOST_CARD_EMULATION is now supported.
  • ProGuard and Complication API: New ProGuard configuration means complication data container classes will no longer be obfuscated. This fixes a ClassNotFoundException when watch faces are trying to access data supplied by a complication data provider.

 

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com