Look out for new features and apps — like Gmail, Calendar and WhatsApp — plus a new OS update coming to your smartwatch this year.
For over a decade, Samsung and Google have worked together to push mobile technology forward across smartphones, tablets and foldables. We both want to bring users the best experiences possible, and as partners, we love a challenge. And now, we’re ready to take our collaboration to the next level with smartwatches.
Smartwatches are the next step in mobile computing and we’re truly excited about the future of wearables. Today at Unpacked, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy Watch4 with Wear OS Powered by Samsung. It’s the first smartwatch running on our unified platform.
We’re taking what we’ve learned from Wear OS and Tizen to jointly build what smartwatch users need. Compared to previous Wear OS smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch4 features a 2.5x shorter set up experience, up to 40 hours of battery life, optimized performance with app launch times 30 percent faster than before and access to a huge ecosystem of apps and services.
And there are more ways to get more done from your wrist with Wear OS. We’re introducing more capabilities and a fresh new look based on Material You design language for Google Maps, Messages by Google and Google Pay apps as well as launching a YouTube Music app. There are also new apps and Tiles coming to Wear OS for quicker access to your favorites. Let’s get into the details:
With the updated Messages by Google app, you can receive messages on the go and easily reply directly from your watch without needing to take out your phone. The Messages app on your watch syncs with your phone, so your conversations stay up to date. If you’re in the United States, South Korea or Japan, you can download Messages on your Galaxy Watch4 from Google Play. For all other supported countries, Messages will already be available on your smartwatch.
Easy contactless payment from your wrist has always been a part of Wear OS. We’re now expanding support for Google Pay to 16 new countries including Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates, with more to come. You’ll also see the app’s revamped design so credit cards stored in your wallet are larger and easier to swipe through.
To use Google Pay on your Galaxy Watch4, download the app in Google Play on your smartwatch. Once Google Pay is added to your smartwatch, you’ll be able to see it alongside your other apps.
YouTube Music Premium subscribers will enjoy access to more than 80 million songs and thousands of playlists on the new YouTube Music app on Wear OS. This standalone app is the first smartwatch app from YouTube Music that allows YouTube Music Premium subscribers to download music for ad-free offline listening, even without your phone nearby. The app also comes with the Smart Downloads feature, which refreshes the songs you’ve downloaded to your watch whenever it’s charging and connected to WiFi. You can even use tailored playlists for the perfect soundtrack, whatever you’re doing.
YouTube Music will be available for download to your Galaxy Watch4 from Google Play.
At Google I/O, we shared that we’ve been working with developers to bring richer, immersive apps to Wear OS. We also made updates to Google Play for Wear OS so it’s easier to discover and download apps. Now we’re introducing new experiences from your favorite apps to your smartwatch, including Calm, Komoot, MyFitnessPal, Period Tracker, Sleep Cycle, Spotify, Strava and many more.
Many of these apps will also launch new third-party Tiles, so there’s a quick way to access the information and actions you care about most.
This will all be available on your Galaxy Watch4 and Galaxy Watch4 Classic, available for pre-order in select markets today and in retail starting August 27. And for current Wear OS users, you’ll see some of these updates begin to roll out starting today.
Today, we’re sharing the biggest update to Wear ever – built with your preferences in mind. We’ve been hard at work in three areas: building a unified platform with Samsung, delivering a new consumer experience and providing updates to your favorite Google apps.
Samsung and Google have a long history of collaboration. Now, we’re bringing the best of Wear and Tizen into a single, unified platform. By working together we have been able to take strengths of each and combine them into an experience that has faster performance, longer battery life and more of the apps you love available for the watch.
For performance, our teams collaborated and made apps start up to 30% faster on the latest chipsets with smooth user interface animations and motion. To achieve longer battery life, we’ve worked to optimize the lower layers of the operating system – taking advantage of low-power hardware cores to enable better battery life. That includes handy optimizations like the ability to run the heart rate sensor continuously during the day, track your sleep overnight and still have battery for the next day. Finally, our unified platform will make it easier for developers to build great apps for the watch.
This isn’t just for Google and Samsung. All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform, and developers will be able to use the Android tools they already know and love to build for one platform and ecosystem. And because of these benefits, you will have more options than ever before, whether it’s choosing which device to buy or picking which apps and watch faces to display.
Managing tasks with your watch is easier than ever with new navigation capabilities.
We’ve made it faster than ever to get things done. From anywhere in the watch, you can access shortcuts to important functions, like switching to your previous app.
Animation demonstrates how to swipe to see new Tiles.
And there are more ways to customize your home screen carousel with Tiles from your favorite apps like Calm, Sleep Cycle and Flo. You can easily choose what information you want at a glance, and which actions you want to have just a swipe away.
Google Maps and Google Assistant are being redesigned and improved. Google Pay will also be redesigned and add support for 26 new countries, beyond the 11 countries currently available. YouTube Music will also arrive on Wear later this year, equipped with features like smart downloads for subscribers to enjoy music while on the go.
Health and fitness tracking is essential for wearables. With the latest Wear update, we welcome Fitbit’s many years of health expertise to the experience. The best of Fitbit, including features like tracking your health progress throughout your day and on-wrist goal celebrations, will motivate you on your journey to better health.
New apps for Wear are arriving on Google Play.
We are also making it easier for our developer community to build great apps (including new Tiles!) for the platform, and reach millions of consumers all over the world through the Google Play Store.
New tools, like a Tiles API and a watch face design editor built by Samsung, make it a breeze to develop new experiences on wearables. New and rebuilt apps from developers like Strava, adidas Running, Bitmoji and many more are coming to the platform. Be sure to check out our developer keynote and technical session “Now is the time: what’s new with Wear” to learn more.
These updates will begin rolling out later this year. From a unified platform with Samsung, to a new consumer experience, and a world-class fitness service from Fitbit, this is a new era for the wearables ecosystem.
