Wear OS

Wear OS made waves at I/O 2021 with talk of a unified platform in partnership with Samsung, new apps, Fitbit integration, and Android 11 update. However, in the short-term, Google mentioned today that the next Wear OS platform update will be available in the “coming weeks.”

At I/O 2021, Google announced that its wearable platform would do a better job of highlighting first-party services, among other tentpoles. This includes YouTube Music, Google Maps, Pay, and Assistant, with a brief preview of those Wear OS apps provided today.

The Wear OS emulator in Android Studio now includes a preview of the upcoming Android 11 based update for Wear OS.

After years of neglect, Google gave Wear OS some proper attention at I/O this year, revealing a major update that focuses on health, battery, and more. If you have a Wear OS watch today, you might be curious if current models will get this revamp. Unfortunately, you’ll be waiting a bit to find out.

As it turns out, the acquisition of Fitbit by Google really was about improving Wear OS for the better. Today at I/O, Google announced a revamp to Wear OS that hinges on Fitbit’s health expertise, and it includes essentially copying the step tracking and motivational badges that watches like Sense and Versa use today.

Google today confirmed what’s been needed for a long time – a major update to its Wear OS platform. Now, Samsung is essentially confirming plans to launch a Wear OS smartwatch after months of rumors.

Under Google, Fitbit is helping to provide the backbone of health tracking on the revamped Wear OS and, soon, Fitbit will be making its own premium smartwatches based on Wear OS.

At I/O 2021, Wear OS 3 was unveiled as a significant revamp — if not revival — of Google’s plans for wearables. There are three tentpoles to this effort, and it is the company’s best chance in years to be competitive in this market.

With less than 24 hours until I/O 2021, Google is teasing a “brand new Wear version.” It comes amid a flurry of developments in recent weeks from Gboard to rumors about Samsung’s next wearables.

Based on countless reports this year, it’s been all but certain that Samsung would be making the switch from Tizen to Wear OS. Now, another report is giving credibility to that report and adding that the Galaxy Watch 4 will be using a Samsung skin on top of Wear OS.

When Wear OS made its debut under the name of Android Wear, Samsung was one of the first partners to give it a shot. The short-lived Gear Live was quickly replaced by Samsung’s Gear and Galaxy Watch lines that went on to become some of the most successful options out there. Now, Samsung might be making a return to Wear OS, and I think it’s a move that’s good for everyone. Here’s why.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 might be one of the most important smartwatches outside of the Apple Watch in quite some time as it merges Samsung’s hardware with Google’s Wear OS, and now yet another report is backing up that change.

Hublot has released yet another overpriced Wear OS-powered smartwatch this time just ahead of the Euro 2020 — technically 2021 due to COVID-19 postponement — Championships. The Hublot Big Bang e UEFA Euro 2020 also includes an NFT for the first 200 buyers.

Gboard is now officially on Wear OS, which means that the typing experience on your wrist should have received a fairly substantial upgrade.

This week, Google introduced Gboard to Wear OS in one of the first wearable app launches in quite some time. One related benefit of Gboard is a much better keypad for entering your PIN on the Wear OS screen lock.

Gboard today is available on Android, iOS, Google/Android TV, and is now coming to Wear OS. The company touts this as bringing “faster and easier messaging” to your wearable.

Fossil started rolling out the latest Wear OS update to various watches in December but announced that it paused the release for Gen 5 devices in February to “iron out some issues.” H-MR2 today is rolling back out to Fossil watches in a process that involves two updates.