The Google Wear OS is the company’s proprietary operating system for smartwatches, allowing users to use Google apps on their wearables. However, the system has been unpopular with consumers and mostly neglected by the company. The last major update was the Wear OS 2, which was in 2018. Google is teaming with Samsung on the Wear OS 3. In a blog post from May 18, Google said it was striving for a “new consumer experience” to fix various issues. These fixes include making the app start-up time 30% faster, optimizing battery life, and making the OS an easier platform to develop for. From this new ease-of-access, more apps will be available for the Wear OS 3, such as the Adidas Running and Fitbit fitness apps. Company apps like Google Maps and Google Assistant are being redesigned and revamped, as well. And Google Pay will have new support for 26 countries, instead of the current 11. The new post on the Google Help forums states that users will have to upgrade and factory reset their smartwatch to get this new update, but only certain devices will be eligible. The devices include the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS, TicWatch Pro 3 Cellular/Lte, and TicWatch E3. Fashion line Fossil Group’s new series of smartwatches will have the new OS once it launches later this year. The Wear OS 3 update is optional and expected to come out during the middle to the second half of 2022. This time frame may seem unusually late to some, as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 will have Wear OS 3 already installed when it launches in August. Google has yet to say what other, if any, smartwatches will be eligible for the OS 3 update, and specific details the new system are still sparse. Google has continuously provided smaller updates for Wear OS throughout the year, with the latest coming out on July 19.
