Google continues to unveil the new features of Wear OS 6, its smartwatch operating system. One of them will make a mode sometimes neglected by users much more interesting.
WearOS has come a long way. Since its arrival on the market, Google's smartwatch operating system has evolved in the right direction after its first few years lagging far behind its Apple counterpart. Not everything is perfect yet, of course, but the overall experience is improving greatly with each update. We're now waiting for WearOS 6, a new version that will, among other things, improve the battery life of our smartwatches.
To further increase battery life, many of you disable Always-On Mode (AOD), which continues to display the time when you're not looking at the watch. This is even less useful since many apps don't take advantage of it. Lower your wrist while one is open and the screen will blur to display the time. WearOS 5.1 provides access to a developer option that forces app compatibility with AOD, but it's not ideal. WearOS 6 will change that.
This new feature in WearOS 6 brings new interest to a mode that is present on all smartwatches
As revealed in a blog post for Android developers, “Wear OS 6 consolidates existing solutions to provide a consistent, always-on display experience across all devices. As part of this change, the previous primary activity remains visible and in the “resume” state when the device enters [AOD].” The image below shows a very concrete example: the controls for a currently playing music remain usable even when the watch is in Always-On mode (right). Which will make it much more useful.
WearOS 6 will also be an opportunity to bring the new Material 3 Expressive design to our wrists. Some people already have a glimpse of it in Google Calendar, for example. To harmonize the display, the tiles will use the same default font, which may differ depending on the watch model. WearOS 6 is expected in a stable version by late summer 2025 at the earliest, or early fall. The Pixel Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 8 will be the first to receive it.
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