It’s been a little over a year since the Wear OS ecosystem seemed dead. A lot has happened since then, and Google is now actually preparing for the mega restart. In March a year ago, I criticized the state of Wear OS with harsh words and a bad outlook. Nothing was going on then. Nothing in terms of software and hardware, the best processor to date was not used in any watch.
Fitbit and other innovations announced
But then came the big change. Google acquired Fitbit. But that didn’t mean any major changes for the time being. It wasn’t until last May that Google was supposed to stomp my criticism into the ground. Wear OS 3 was announced, as well as the comeback of Samsung. What all sounded great went a bit wrong. The new Wear OS version was only available for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. Updates for other devices were only planned for summer 2022 – a year later!
Samsung has made the extremely strong start
Wear OS sales went through the roof because of Samsung alone. Nevertheless, the ecosystem continued to languish. There were no new watches from other brands with the new software. Also, there is no Wear OS smartwatch from Fitbit to date. Many months had to pass before the next big announcement was made. Now Google is going all out and implementing further announcements.
Pixel Watch and more: Now it’s really getting started
The first Google Pixel Watch has finally been announced for this fall. Shortly after the Google I/O, a much better Google Assistant for Wear OS 3 finally launched. Last but not least, summer is approaching, so Fossil and Co. can launch new devices with Wear OS 3 on the one hand and update older models on the other. Google itself is planning other new apps for Wear OS, such as a customized version of Google Home.