Key Takeaways
- The Wear OS 5 Developer Preview based on Android 14 is coming later this year.
- Expect performance improvements for longer battery life, specifically when tracking workouts.
- Most updates at this point pertain to developers.
The highly anticipated Google I/O presentation, which was held yesterday, was a showcase of the company’s latest AI features. Gemini took the spotlight, with most features revolving around it. While it was widely expected that Google would announce Wear OS 5, the end of the show left many surprised that wearable news was entirely lacking from the show. However, today, as the conference continued, we received the much-awaited confirmation that Wear OS 5 is indeed on its way. The release just isn’t coming quite as soon as many expected.
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What improvements are coming to Wear OS 5?
Google has stated that a Developer Preview of Wear OS 5 will arrive later this year, which will be based on Android 14. There’s no news on when it might be available for consumers. Google didn’t provide many details at this point but did specify that the central component of the new watch operating system release will be, unsurprisingly, battery life.
Longer battery life was at the top of our list of changes we hope to see since smartwatches famously require frequent charging. The poor battery life not only means you have to be tethered to a charger more often but also that it’s not possible to use the watch for longer events and activities.
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Google says that Wear OS 5 will bring performance improvements over the current version of Wear OS 4. In terms of specifics, it went on to explain that tracking workouts will be more efficient for the watch. A marathon was provided as an example, with Google saying that using your Wear OS watch to track your marathon will result in 20% less power consumption on Wear OS 5 than on Wear OS 4. That’s a significant improvement that could make Wear OS devices much more feasible for athletes or anyone participating in longer activities and events. Ahead of the launch of the new OS, though, Google released a new guide on how to get the most out of your battery.
Beyond battery life, the other updates provided about Wear OS were entirely focused on developer features. Given that the Developer Preview isn’t even available yet, that news makes sense. The tech giant emphasized changes to its Watch Faces Format, which was introduced last year along with Wear OS 4. The news release specified that 30% of watch faces in Google Play use that new format, so the new platform has seen a quick adoption rate.
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There will also be a new version of Jetpack Compse for Wear OS, which includes visual improvements and fixes from beta. Google said that the adoption of Compose on Wear OS has grown by 200% since last year, so this is clearly an appreciated tool for developers. Google also mentioned that it will make testing for fitness apps easier, which means that we could see more features and unique fitness apps coming down the pipeline.
We’ll have to keep waiting to hear more specifics about what Wear OS 5 may bring, but we are glad to see that battery life is a definite area to expect improvements. For now, we’ll eagerly await to see what developers are able to do with the new OS this summer or fall.
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