YouTube Music prepares Wear OS Tile showing recently played music

The recently launched YouTube Music app for Wear OS is set to gain a home screen Tile to help you jump back into your favorite playlist.

About APK Insight: In this APK Insight post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

YouTube Music Wear OS tile

With the launch of Wear OS 3 on the Galaxy Watch 4, Google also brought both YouTube Music and Google Maps to the platform. While these were initially exclusive to Wear OS 3 watches – essentially making them Galaxy Watch exclusives – Google eventually loosened up the requirements for YouTube Music, allowing it to be installed on watches with select Snapdragon Wear chips.

Now that YouTube Music is formally a part of the Wear OS ecosystem, Google is taking the chance to make the app feel more at home on smartwatches. This comes in the form of a new Tile — sort of like Android home screen widgets for Wear OS — for YouTube Music.

While not yet live in the app today, the update to version 4.59 includes a preview image of what YouTube Music’s Wear OS Tile will look like, along with an image that will serve as the Tile’s “background.”

Judging from the preview – along with the Tile’s title, “Recently Played” – it’s likely that YouTube Music’s Wear OS Tile will offer a simple shortcut to a recent playlist or album you’ve listened to. It’s interesting, though, that the Tile has a “Browse” button rather than “Play” or something similar.

Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.