Installation and update progress bars are now available to many in the watch’s app drawer
Abstract
- Google continues to make small but significant improvements to Wear OS, such as showing app installation progress in the app drawer.
- These usability improvements, along with others like the new Watch Face Format, aim to make Wear OS a stronger competitor in the Android ecosystem.
- While it’s currently limited to Pixel Watch and Watch 2 owners, it remains unclear if the app install progress in the app drawer will expand to other Wear OS watches in the future.
Since the launch of Wear OS 3 in 2021, Google has been constantly improving the platform. The company’s efforts helped revive Wear OS and make it a viable alternative to the Apple Watch in the Android ecosystem. In recent months, we’ve seen Google make several small but important usability improvements to its wearable platform, such as pushing developers to use the new Watch Face Format and debuting a hybrid interface for longer battery life. Google has now been spotted testing another small usability improvement in Wear OS, showing app installation progress in the app drawer.
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As hinted by Mishaal Rahman, some Pixel Watch and Watch 2 owners are seeing app installation progress in their watch’s app drawer. This basic functionality has been present on Android phones for years, but is inexplicably missing from Wear OS. The feature is already live on my Pixel Watch 2, with an app drawer showing the progress of an installation or update in percentage. Although a minor change, it ensures you know which Wear OS apps are updating in the background without opening the Play Store.
It’s unclear if this change is related to the recently introduced Pixel Feature Drop in March 2024. That update primarily brought many of the features of the Pixel Watch 2 to the original Pixel Watch and a little more. Google may eventually roll out this change as a server-side push or with the next monthly patch for the Pixel Watch.
Since non-Pixel watches use a different launcher, it’s hard to say if this change will make it to other Wear OS watches.
Google is working on several improvements to Wear OS behind the scenes. A report from earlier this year indicated that the company is working on Wear OS 5 based on Android 14, which will reportedly be released alongside the Galaxy Watch 7 series later this year.
The company was also spotted testing a new app drawer with a grid view for the Pixel Watch in early February 2024. It was supposed to be introduced in a March 2024 Feature Drop, but that didn’t happen. These improvements to the Wear OS launcher could appear with the next monthly security patch for the OS, or we may have to wait until the release of Wear OS 5 later this year.