Wear OS apps for Galaxy Watches set to get better

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Wear OS received a major revamp in 2021, and third-party apps are about to get better. Google has announced some new app quality requirements for Wear OS 3 to improve the overall user experience. The company listed a number of watch app requirements. These new Wear OS 3 ground rules will come into effect on August 31 this year.

Previously, there were only eight requirements for apps or watch faces. However, Google has now introduced 31 more app requirements that the developers have to implement while developing apps or watch faces. Developers have to follow these changes to “ensure app users get a basic consistent experience across all apps in accordance with our latest Wear OS design and development principles.”

Wear OS apps failing to comply will become undiscoverable to users

All app developers need to update their Wear OS apps to target Android 11 (API Level 30), the version on which Wear OS 3 is based on. This is to make sure that the apps meet the safety and quality standards that end users expect on a Wear OS 3 device. The overall Wear OS app review process will be mandatory, and Google hasn't introduced any changes to it.

Some of the major highlights of the upcoming Wear OS 3 app quality changes include:

The use of black backgrounds for all apps and tiles.
The ability to allow users to swipe down from any screen to exit the app, but fitness and maps are excluded.
All scrollable content should support the rotating crown and show the scroll bar.
Any ongoing activity needs to be displayed at the bottom of the watch face in the app launcher card or tiles.

You can check out the full list of changes by clicking here. Any app that fails to meet the Wear OS 3 app quality requirements by August 31, 2023, will become undiscoverable to all Google Play users whose Android devices run on Android 11 or above versions.