Google and Samsung have done a lot of hard work to revitalize the Wear OS scene. Launched on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 series, Wear OS 3 breathes new life into Google’s wearable platform with new functionality and new colors. Although it took seven years to reach version 3.0 of the platform, Wear OS 4 is already available as a developer preview and is expected to be available on both existing watches in the coming months. Here’s everything we know about the latest and greatest in Wear OS.
What is Wear OS 4?
Wear OS 4 is the upcoming version of Wear OS, based on Android 13. It’s an upgrade from the current Wear OS 3.5, which is currently available on the Google Pixel Watch, all Samsung Wear OS-based Galaxy Watch devices, and Mobvoy. TicWatch Pro 5
What new features will be included in Wear OS 4?
We’re not expecting Wear OS 4 to be a vastly different experience from Wear OS 3.x, but it’s set to introduce a number of improvements. At this year’s I/O event, Google introduced Wear OS 4 updates to Google Calendar and Gmail with longer battery life and new watch apps. The company mentions a new backup and recovery tool that makes switching between different Wear OS watches less of a hassle, text-to-speech performance, and a new permissions system that automatically assigns permissions to compatible apps on your phone. See applications.
Google is teaming up with Samsung to bring a new watch face creation tool to Wear OS 4. The new watch face format is a descriptive XML format that takes some of the work out of creating new watch faces. Watch Face Format is only supported on Wear OS 4. However, Samsung has a new Watch Face Studio tool that allows developers to create new watch faces that use Watch Face Format on Wear OS 4 devices and are backward compatible with Wear OS 3 watches.
XDA Developers has noticed that Android virtual devices running Wear OS 4 appear to support Material You adaptive colors. Google hasn’t officially announced this feature, and XDA hasn’t been able to customize the virtual watch’s theme, but Material You theming appears to be available in Wear OS 4 from the start.
Wear OS 4 may introduce a major usability improvement. The ability to transfer your Wear OS watch from one phone to another without doing a factory reset on the wearable. Galaxy Watches running the beta version of the Wear OS 4-based One UI 5 Watch can be moved from one phone to another without a reset as long as all the included devices are signed in to the same Google account. This could be a huge improvement for anyone looking to jump between phones.
When will my watch get Wear OS 4?
With the rollout of older Wear OS 3 watches from the likes of Mobvoi and Fossil being delayed and problematic, it’s likely that many existing watches won’t get the update anytime soon, if at all. We’d love to be proven wrong there, but history tells us not to get our hopes up.
Still, Google says Wear OS 4 is coming this fall. We expect to see it first on the company’s Pixel Watch and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 5 devices. The beta program for Samsung’s One UI 5 Watch, built on Wear OS 4, has begun. We’re also expecting the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 to launch sometime this summer, and it should come with the latest version of Wear OS. Therefore, Google’s “failure” estimate may be on the conservative side.
We’re keeping track of new developments around Wear OS 4, so be sure to check back often for the latest.
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