Wear OS 5: what we want to see, and all the leaks so far
Wear OS 4 was only launched last year, and while new versions of Wear OS typically don’t release annually, it looks like Wear OS 5 could arrive well before the end of 2024.
That hasn’t been confirmed yet, but leaks point in that direction. So your Wear OS smartwatch may get a major software update much sooner than you expected.
What exactly that update will entail is less clear, but below is everything we’ve heard about Wear OS 5 so far, including speculation about its likely release date and compatibility.
We then included a wish list below with the features and improvements that Wear OS 5 would most like to bring.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next major Wear OS operating system update
- When is it out? Possibly August
- How much is it? It will be a free update
Wear OS 5: rumored release date
Wear OS 5 could initially launch on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, which itself will likely be announced at Samsung’s next Unpacked event, rumored for July, and then – based on previous form – likely in August will appear.
The reason we think Wear OS 5 could launch with this wearable is that a leak suggests Samsung is trying to make Wear OS 5 – based on Android 14 – work on its new Exynos 5535 chipset, which is likely for the first time will be used by the Galaxy Watch 7.
Keep in mind, however, that Samsung’s version of Wear OS 5 will almost certainly use the company’s One UI Watch overlay, so for a less customized version of Wear OS 5 you’ll probably have to wait for the Google Pixel Watch 3, which will likely will end up in the US. October.
Take the above leak with a grain of salt, because while Wear OS 4 launched a year earlier on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, it was two years earlier in August 2021 that we saw Wear OS 3, and Wear OS 2 landed three. years earlier than that.
Now there have been some β mostly smaller β updates in between, but Google hasn’t stuck to an annual cadence for major Wear OS updates. So based on that history, it seems more likely that Wear OS 5 would release in July or August 2025.
For now, we’re assuming that the above leak is true, which would mean we might only have to wait a few months for Wear OS 5. It could also mean that Google will switch to an annual update cycle for its smartwatch operating system in the future.
Wear OS 5: Predicted Compatibility
Wear OS 5 will definitely run on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 and Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Pro (or Classic, depending on which launch). As mentioned above, these wearables will likely be the first to launch with Watch OS 5.
The Google Pixel Watch 3 will also definitely support Wear OS 5, as Google makes both, and most other upcoming Wear OS watches will likely support it as well.
Additionally, most current smartwatches running Wear OS 4 will likely get Wear OS 5 sooner or later, especially those launched in the past year like the Google Pixel Watch 2, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 line, the OnePlus Watch 2, and many of the other best Wear OS watches.
But as with Android updates, we don’t expect all of these updates to get Wear OS 5 on day one, so you may have to wait a while depending on your watch, with Google and Samsung devices likely to be the first to stand in line.
Wear OS 5: news and leaks
So far, the only real leak surrounding Wear OS 5 is simply that it could release this year, as detailed above. As such, we have no real idea of ββwhat features or improvements it might bring, but you can at least probably expect bug fixes, along with performance and power efficiency improvements.
Since this update moves the operating system from version 4 to 5, we naturally expected a lot more β we still have to learn some.
Wear OS 5: what we want to see
While we don’t yet know what Wear OS 5 has to offer, we do have some ideas about what we want from it, which you’ll find below.
1. More AI baked in
AI is the big buzzword in the tech sector right now, and smartphones like the Google Pixel 8 and the Samsung Galaxy S24 are embracing it in a big way, but so far smartwatches haven’t done so much.
Sure, you can get ChatGPT on Wear OS now, but the core operating system doesn’t feel very AI-inspired. With Wear OS 5, we’d like to see this change. That could mean bringing the AI-powered Google Assistant with Bard to your wrist. Google has already announced this AI upgrade for Google Assistant, but has not yet launched it.
Or perhaps the company will bring the rumored Pixel-exclusive Pixie AI assistant to at least Pixel Watches instead. Either way, we want smartwatches to get in on the AI ββaction.
2. Perform the safety check on all devices
With Wear OS 4, Google has added a number of new safety features to its Pixel Watch line. These include Safety Check β a feature that lets you set a check-in timer on your watch, which then automatically shares your location with emergency contacts if you don’t confirm that everything is fine by a certain time.
These and other safety features like emergency sharing (which shares your real-time location with selected contacts) are important and potentially even life-saving additions that everyone could benefit from, so we’d like to see them offered as a standard part of Draag OS 5, instead of being exclusive to Google’s Pixel Watches.
3. Fitbit for every wearable
Likewise, Google only offers Fitbit functionality on Pixel Watches, so we’d like to see the Fitbit app work with other Wear OS smartwatches too.
Sure, this is less essential than safety features, and there are always fitness tracking services from Google Fit or third parties, but Fitbit is a particularly successful fitness tracking service, and because health and fitness tracking is such a big part of smartwatches, that would also be the case. nice if this worked for more of them.
4. Improved efficiency
Battery life on smartwatches is generally not great, and while battery capacity will have the biggest impact on that, making the software more efficient can also help the battery further.
Another improvement we’d like to see with Wear OS 5 is the focus on making the operating system as efficient as possible, so your smartwatch lasts longer between charges.