Wear OS

Google has shared that future Wear OS watches will be able to be worn upside down, perfect for those who are left-handed to wear their watch on their right wrist.

Wear OS is in a tough spot right now. On the one hand, the future looks brighter than ever, and Samsung is showing how good things can be. On the other hand, everything except the Galaxy Watch 4 is tough to recommend. Enter the Skagen Falster Gen 6, an upgraded version of one of my favorite smartwatch designs that is making the best of this difficult situation.

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.

Following a big 2021 for Wear OS, Google is continuing the momentum with the upcoming ability for watches to unlock Chrome OS and Android devices. On a similar front, Google is expanding what digital car keys can do this year.

Style has always been a strength on Wear OS, with more choices for design and often classic watchmakers at the helm. This week, Fossil Group is introducing the Skagen Falster Gen 6, which brings next-gen capable specs to one of our favorite hardware designs.

Google’s Wear OS has long been able to control smart home devices thanks to Google Assistant, but it’s never had a touch-based method of doing so. This week, the popular open-source smart home client “Home Assistant” has debuted a full Wear OS app with smart home controls.

The latest version of the Wear OS 3 emulator in Android Studio has offered a preview of what appear to be watchfaces for Google’s long-rumored “Pixel Watch.”

Google’s Wear OS 3 update is live now on the Galaxy Watch 4 series, but it’s going to be a while until we see the update on any other products. Now, a new developer preview of Wear OS 3 is giving us a better idea of what Google has in mind for the design of its stock UI.

According to new documentation, it appears that Fossil has canceled plans for a Gen 6 Diesel-branded Wear OS smartwatch.

A smartwatch in the “Made by Google” family is inevitable, and efforts to make it a reality have been a long time coming. Following the existence of a Google-made smartwatch possibly called the “Pixel Watch” being corroborated by two reliable sources this past week, some allegedly “official” renders of the device have surfaced.

In the second half of next year, a handful of existing smartwatches that run Google’s operating system will get updated to Wear OS 3 based on Android 11. Ahead of that, Google has rolled out a new “System updates” screen for Wear OS.

Black Friday and associated holiday sales are some of the best times to buy a smartwatch, but many Android users don’t have a definitive go-to option for a smartwatch. In late 2021, these are the best smartwatches you can buy for nearly any Android phone.

Google’s Wear OS sat mostly stagnant for a few years, leading to the platform being just a footnote in the overall smartwatch market. However, thanks to strong Galaxy Watch 4 sales, Wear OS has been catapulted into second place when it comes to market share of smartwatches sold in Q3 2021.

Google’s Wear OS is in a frustrating state of limbo right now, but Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 is a source of growth for the platform in more ways than one. Earlier this year, Samsung brought an internet browser app to its smartwatch, and now that browser seems to be available on more Wear OS devices.

Android users have never had a truly great smartwatch, but that’s something Google is actively trying to fix with its Wear OS 3 update. Unfortunately for now, though, that update is only available on the admittedly great Galaxy Watch 4, and over the past couple of weeks, I’ve really come to appreciate the sorry state of the alternatives. The Fossil Gen 6 and TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra have their strengths, but the current version of Wear OS and its leaderless platform just lead to a messy experience.

The Galaxy Watch 4 has picked up a few minor updates since its launch, and now another is rolling out with further improvements. The November update for the Galaxy Watch 4 delivers new watchfaces and better tracking with its updated security patch.

Back in February, an investor presentation revealed that new Motorola-branded smartwatches were in development for this year. While the original deadlines have slipped, the “Moto Watch 100” looks to be getting an announcement fairly soon.

After years of neglect, Wear OS is finally getting a boost this year with the Wear OS 3 upgrade, now available on the Galaxy Watch 4. However, the older Wear OS hardware is still in limbo, and for many, some of Google Assistant’s core functions are not working as intended.