OnePlus Watch 2 to adopt Wear OS so it can do more than just show time and heart rate

Ben Schoon | Nov 10 2023 - 10:16 am PT

The OnePlus Watch was a product that, at its start, was not just a disappointment but a failure. It got better over time, but ultimately, it couldn’t get past the point of being a glorified fitness tracker. But, with the upcoming OnePlus Watch 2, which leaked earlier today, the company will apparently be using Wear OS.

Ahead of the OnePlus Watch’s debut in 2021, OnePlus’ Pete Lau announced that the product would be running a custom “RTOS” instead of Wear OS. In other words, it would be using a custom OS, which, while lightweight and good for battery life, would be incredibly limited in terms of apps, watch faces, and more. It was among our chief complaints when the watch finally debuted, but the entire argument in favor of running an RTOS instead of Wear OS was that it would offer a “smooth and reliable experience while offering a great battery life.”

It was a pretty hypocritical argument given the context that it came just moments after Lau said in the same post that smartwatches should be “more than just instruments that indicate the time and heart rates,” yet that’s really all the OnePlus Watch was useful for.

Lau said at the time:

We see smartwatches as more than just instruments that indicate the time and heart rates, but powerful devices capable of elevating our personal digital experience to new heights

Now, it sounds like OnePlus is going to completely reverse that entire argument and just do the smart thing and adopt Wear OS.

Max Jambor, a very reliable source for info about OnePlus, says that the OnePlus Watch 2 will ship with Wear OS 4. It’s unclear if the watch will have any customizations beyond the normal Wear OS look, but even if it doesn’t, this is great news as it will open OnePlus’ watch up to more apps, faces, and a lot more functionality.

Leaked renders of the watch from earlier today show off a brand-new design as well and mention a Snapdragon W5 chipset under the hood, which is the same chip used in the Pixel Watch 2.