A New Wear OS Platform Update Could Usher In Big Changes - Android

Google is still working on improving Wear OS in a number of ways and some of those efforts are going to show up sometime later in 2021 with the arrival of an upcoming platform update. Today Google announced it was going to be pushing out a platform update for Wear OS later in 2021. Noting [...]

Read More...

The post A New Wear OS Platform Update Could Usher In Big Changes appeared first on Android Headlines.

Google is still working on improving Wear OS in a number of ways and some of those efforts are going to show up sometime later in 2021 with the arrival of an upcoming platform update.

Today Google announced it was going to be pushing out a platform update for Wear OS later in 2021. Noting that it would be launching for users sometime in the Spring. The company doesn't give out any details about specific dates or times, but Spring is nearly here and will continue for around three months once it starts.

So the update could land anytime within the next few weeks or it could be a little bit further out. Google is also pretty quiet on most of what the update will include. Save for one feature focal point.

Google's Spring 2021 Wear OS platform update will focus on Tiles

Tiles are a feature that have been in Wear OS since Google first introduced them back in 2019. But Google's announcement isn't about Tiles launching in general. Because the feature isn't new.

Rather, it's about the addition of the capability for developers to create their very own Tiles. Something which has never been allowed before. That makes it a pretty huge deal as the Tiles are a major feature of the platform. And one of the features that users tend to interact with the most on a daily basis no doubt.

Given that they're easily accessible from the Wear OS main screen and list most of the necessary data you might want. Like weather, heart rate, steps taken and more. Google is calling this the Jetpack Tiles Library, and it's currently in Alpha testing.

This isn't a closed Alpha, at least Google doesn't mention that, so presumably any Wear OS developers that are interested in creating Tiles for their apps will be allowed to do so.

Giving developers an early look to get the ball rolling

Seeing as Google's plan is to roll out the new Custom Tiles feature this Spring, it unsurprisingly wants developers to have an early look at things.

But to really get the ball rolling it needs developers to work with the feature and actually create stuff. So the Alpha is a way for Google to perhaps drum up some interest. Google doesn't mention if it's already working with any developers in particular.

But it wouldn't be surprising if it already had partners to kick things off before rolling the alpha out to all developers today.

The post A New Wear OS Platform Update Could Usher In Big Changes appeared first on Android Headlines.