Fossil working with Google to make its new companion app compatible with Wear OS 3

Following the Wear OS 3 transition for smart wearables has been interesting to follow and with every new piece of information, we can slowly make out what the big picture will look like for Wear OS. The latest information comes from Fossil, a popular Wear OS smartwatch OEM.

As per a Reddit thread, a Fossil representative has provided an update as to the state of Fossil smartwatches with a recent overhaul to the smartwatch UI and the newly released Fossil companion app. There’s also a note about the transition towards some of the smartwatches receiving a Wear OS 3 update and new devices coming with the new software.

Secondly, we are pressing the app to support our WearOS watches getting the WearOS 3 update later this year.”

The mention of Fossil watches getting Wear OS 3 “later this year” aligns with the timeframe that was offered nearly a year ago of H2 2022.

u/FossilGuy1111 explains the motivation behind the new app was mostly that a new app would make it easier to retire old features and implement new feedback received from Fossil’s users. The new app brings a newly designed UI with simpler interface, and it prepares the brands’ smartwatches to support Wear OS 3 on current and future wearables.

Fossil Gen 6

The Fossil employee explains that it is working with Google on the new Fossil app to be able to support the new wearables software. OEMs will be able to control the experience with their own companion apps rather than rely on the Wear OS app. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 have a Samsung companion app, the Google Pixel Watch is expected to have its own app as per a recent leak, and Montblanc’s Summit 3 is expected to have its own companion app as well.

This transition has proved to be a significant hurdle for OEMs and smartwatch makers given how long it has been ongoing, but the payoff will be that Wear OS will be a more viable competitor to the Apple Watch and that the default smartwatch experience for Android will be that much closer to how the Apple Watch works with iPhone.

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