Wear OS 6 will fix a big Always-On Display pain on your Galaxy Watch

The Always-On Display (AOD) on Wear OS smartwatches has had a big pain point that has so far remained unaddressed. If you were using an app that didn't support AOD and the smartwatch went into ambient mode, you couldn't use it or access any controls, because all the display would show was a blurred version of the screen with the time on top.

This is made particularly challenging when needing to access media controls, as that meant you'd have to flick your wrist every time to yank the watch out of AOD mode. Google is finally addressing this with Wear OS 6, the next major update for smartwatches powered by its platform, including Samsung's Galaxy Watches.

The Wear OS 6 update will bring a consistent AOD experience on smartwatches, Google says, ensuring that the “previous top activity remains visible and in the ‘resumed’ state when the device enters system ambient mode.”

This means that when your Galaxy Watch goes into ambient mode, the last used app will remain active on the screen. Google specifically mentions the example of current song and media controls, as they will remain visible even when you're not interacting with the device, so switching between songs or paying playback will no longer require a flick of the wrist.

Google is also enhancing the look and feel for media controls with Wear OS 6, it's sprinkling that Material 3 Expressive magic dust on them. When the device goes into ambient modes, thin color outlines of these controls will be displayed against a black background.