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Wear OS 3.0 is the most recent update for Google’s smartwatch operating system yet. It was announced back in May 2021 during Google’s I/O developer conference and was launched in August of the same year.

While adding new functionality to existing Android smartwatches, Wear OS 3.0 was also surprisingly added to Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 which was a switch from Samsung’s own smartwatch OS.

In contrast, Fossil smartwatches that have been using Wear OS since its early days as Android Wear will get the OS update in the latter half of 2022. As for smartwatches other than Fossil, Samsung, and Fitbit, Google is yet to reveal the launch date for the update.

Wear OS 3.0 has excellent support for third-party applications and has various connectivity features including NFC, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

Here are some screenshots of the design of the new Wear OS:

Features

The features of Wear OS 3.0 allow further integration with Google services as well as third-party applications. Your mobile application development company can deploy apps that an Android Smartwatch would completely support.

Apart from the applications, Google has also updated its app tiles for popular apps, bringing a fresh feeling to the new OS. As with previous versions, Wear OS 3.0 can sync notifications from a paired smartphone.

Wear OS 3.0 apps

Some new wear OS 3.0 apps include:

• YouTube
• Google Maps
• Spotify
• Adidas Running

An upgraded interface

An interface upgrade helps make several actions a lot more effortless than before. This is further improved thanks to the updated Google assistant which makes it easier to operate your wearable device with your voice alone.

Wear OS Support third-party application

Google has added support for numerous third-party applications on Wear OS 3.0. APIs have also been created to help developers complete their android app development in fewer steps than before.

Switching Apps

Another new and improved feature in Wear OS 3.0 is switching apps by double tapping one of the watch buttons.

When switched, the app uses fewer resources in the background while still being open, making it very easy to switch between apps. Moreover, the new app launcher showcases recently opened apps at the top.

Wear OS Upgraded Dialogues

Wear OS 3.0 has also added full-screen alerts that can be used as navigation destinations or traditional full-screen dialogues.

Creating a Wear OS 3.0 Application

When developing mobile apps, we usually only concentrate on tablets and smartphones. However, Wear OS 3.0 brings new possibilities that should also entice developers to start building applications for android wearables. Here’s how you do it:

Start a Wear OS project

• Click File > New > New Project.
• In the Template window, click the Wear OS tab, select Blank Activity, and click Next.
• In the New Project window, name your project, and click Finish.

Add this <uses-feature> tag Android Manifest file and define android:name=”android.hardware.type.watch” as shown in example

<manifest>
…
  <uses-feature android:name=”android.hardware.type.watch” />
…
</manifest>

How to Add a Wear OS module to your project

• Click File > New > New Module.
• In the New Module, select Wear OS Module and click Next.
• Under Configure the new module, enter
• Give the same package name as your Phone module.
• After Click Next. You will see multiple code template options. Click Blank Wear OS Activity and click Next.

So, the structure will look like this

• The mobile module, which is where the phone app codes.
• A new wear module which is where the Wear app code.

Ending Note

We hope you enjoyed another blog by our DEV IT Engineers. If you would like to learn about another topic in the world of software development, please feel free to comment below, and we will also write about it.