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Google Maps rolling out public transit directions on Wear OS

Following the announcement in late February at MWC 2024 and the March Pixel Feature Drop, Google Maps for Wear OS is more widely rolling out public transit directions. 

Once available, searching for a location or selecting a recent one from the main feed will reveal the new Transit option. Offering an ETA, it appears after Driving with Walking and Bicycling rounding out the list. This works hand-in-hand with the Wear OS Tile that shows your Home and Work locations to quickly start traveling. 

Google Maps will show all the possible “Routes” or a “Recommended route” when there’s just one.

Making a selection will initiate navigation with always-on display (AOD) support. You can scroll through all the directions, while there’s a pill-shaped FAB to get a live map view. “Preview route” at the very bottom of the steps list takes you to a zoomed out map view that shows all stops, while that’s where you’ll find “Exit.”

If you go to your watch face, a transit (train) icon will appear at the bottom to immediately return to Google Maps.

Transit directions are rolling out via a server-side update with version 11.119.0702.W of Google Maps for Wear OS. This joins the ability to find “Nearby” transit stations from the app’s main feed and see departure/arrival times. Google re-announced Transit with the Pixel Feature Drop and paired that with passes in the Wallet app.

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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