Wear OS 4 Announced at Google I/O 2023; Coming Later This Year

Google’s next iteration of its smartwatch operating system, the Wear OS 4 is finally been announced at Google I/O 2023. This is a long overdue update to Wear OS 3, launched back in 2021 in partnership with Samsung. With Wear OS 4, Google aims to bring noticeable improvements and enhancements to the wearable OS ecosystem. Find out more about Wear OS 4 below.

Wear OS 4 is Official!

Wear OS 4 is based on Android 13 and is set to bring a plethora of new features and enhancements to the wearables ecosystem. Some of the noteworthy announcements include the ability to restore and back up. This was long overdue and was a major feature that was missing from both Wear OS 3 and Wear OS 3.5.

With this, you will be able to easily switch your old smartwatch with a new one without the need to factory reset your watch. All of your old data and settings will be available on the watch.

With Wear OS 4, Google is confident about improved battery backup and optimization along with better accessibility features. One of the key accessibility features includes a faster and more reliable text-to-speech engine.

Wear OS 4 is also key in enhancing first-party and third-party app support. Google will bring Gmail and Calendar to Wear OS later this year with the ability to respond to emails, browse your inbox, ability to RSVP, complete Google Tasks, and much more. Third-party apps like WhatsApp and Spotify will also do their part for Wear OS 4. WhatsApp for Wear OS app is coming later this year, and Spotify is adding tiles that will allow you to play new podcast episodes, play music on a loop, and curate a selection of songs based on Spotify DJ.

Another major announcement was the introduction of the Watch Face Format for Wear OS. This is a creative playground for Android developers to create new and unique Wear OS faces and publish them on Google Play Store. Developers can create analog, digital, complex, and many more designs without any restrictions. Along with developers, end-consumers can also enjoy unlimited customization with Wear OS 4’s upcoming editor and Samsung’s Watch Face studio.

Google has released the Developer Preview of Wear OS 4 and will release a stable version later this year. With the next iteration of the Google Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 in the pipeline, Wear OS 4 can debut with both of these smartwatches. So are you excited about what’s about to come with Wear OS 4? What smartwatch do you currently use? Do let us know in the comments below.